Trials
by PokeThunder
Summary: Continuation after season5. Vlad and Talitha find a mysterious necklace with the Dracula Family Coat of Arms. Vlad, unknowing of the necklaces power, wears it and has moments of weakness and strange dreams. He knows it is dangerous to hang on to but can't seem to want to get rid of it. Soon Vlad begins to question his beliefs and has to choose between his girlfriend or his family.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm back! Ok so I know I have yet to finish Wanted and have barely begun my story about Ingrid... Don't hate me. But I still have every intension to finish them. Just please be patient with me. I'm only human. A human with a lot of writers block. But I did come up with this new story. It is a continuation after season 5. As always, I will try to stay true to what the show writers had already done.. even if I do hate just about everything they did in season 5. However, I will try to make it work in my favor and I hope you will enjoy my take on it. Expect OC's as I am an author who loves my own characters dearly. For those of you who are loyal readers, no I have no plans to have Cosmina to make an appearance in this story. Might happen if it would make sense. We'll just have to wait and see. Without further delay, I give you my take on what season 6 could have been, Trials!**

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Lights glowed from the cave located in Romania. An archeologist and his assistant were in the middle of exploring a newly found tunnel within it.

"Do you really believe it's wise to be here at this hour?" Said the assistant. He was young, only 20, and just recently gotten this job. He hoped that it would give him an excuse to travel around more.

"We're fine. You shouldn't listen to all those legends," said the archeologist.

"But aren't legends the reason we are here?"

"What I mean is legends that have to do with things like magic. There is no proof of it being true."

"I'm not so sure there is no proof."

The archeologist chose to ignore him and continued searching for whatever he could find. He was searching for any proof that people used to use this cave as a place to practice witchcraft of some sort. They had found other evidence but nothing to show who these people really were. As he was digging, something finally flew up from the ground. A container made of a dark colored metal.

"Bring me another flashlight from over there," The archeologist pointed toward the wall.

The assistant brought the flashlight and pointed it at the container. There seemed to be no sort of markings on the container. It was black and smooth. It was rectangular about 5 inches long and 2 inches wide.

"What is this?" Asked the assistant.

"No idea at the moment. Hopefully there is something inside," he began to slide the top off when he felt someone grab his shoulder. He turned around to find glowing yellow eyes starring at him. He blacked out.

"Told you they would find it for us," Talitha smirked. "We didn't have to lift a finger."

Vlad gave her a smile and took the container from the archeologist, "We probably wouldn't have to had to wait as long if we had just searched for it ourselves."

Talitha took the container from him, "Couldn't risk leaving evidence behind that we were here."

"What sort of evidence could we possibly leave behind?"

"I don't know. Slayers have all sorts of technology that we don't understand."

"Yeah, kind of scary to think about. Speaking of slayers, let's get out of here before they show up. We've been here too long."

Vlad started to walk out of the room and Talitha followed, but stopped as she was opening the container, "Uhh..Vlad?"

Vlad turned to her, "What is it?"

"It's your family's Coat of Arms," she handed the container to him.

Vlad looked at it for a moment. The Coat of Arms was all black but it was a bit different than just the vampire bat. It had a dragon surrounding it in a circle. The wings were folded in blending with its body. The dragon and the bat both had rubies for eyes. It was hooked on a thick black chain necklace.

Vlad handed back to Talitha, "I guess it's no surprise. My family used to live in this area for centuries."

"But why do the slayers want it? It can't be more than an old piece of jewelry."

"I don't know but our job is to keep it from them." Vlad started heading for the exit again. Talitha followed as they sped through the tunnels but Vlad finally came to a stop just before the last turn.

"What is it?" Talitha asked.

"Slayers. They are maybe 2 miles out traveling pretty fast. They probably already have us on their radar."

"You have a plan?"

Vlad took the necklace out of the container and put it on under his hoodie, "I'll take this and you take the container. We split up and hopefully they will too. Find a place to hide out until they're gone. I'll try and meet up with you soon. If not tonight, then tomorrow."  
Talitha gave him a kiss on the cheek and ran west. Vlad ran the opposite.

It didn't take the Slayers long to catch up. Vlad had hid up in the trees. The Slayers stayed in the area looking for him for a good hour. When they finally left Vlad found a small cave to spend the day since the sun would rise soon. He sat down as far from the exit as possible. The moment he did he realized how weak and tired he felt. He pulled out some soy blood from his backpack but passed out before he had gotten the chance to drink any.

When he started dreaming he stood in the middle of a forest right next to a large lake. Fog rested on top of the lake. Vlad had a feeling he was in the dream world again. He kept his guard up just in case. The first thing Vlad had noticed was that there seemed to be a man standing on the water. The second thing he noticed was how thirsty he felt. The man pointed to the left of Vlad. In the distance Vlad saw a deer. A voice spoke but it didn't seem to be coming from the man, "Kill…" The voice was coming from Vlad's head. "Kill…"

Vlad couldn't say anything. "Kill!" Vlad's mind went blank and he heard himself yell.

Vlad woke up suddenly in a panic. He calmed himself down and looked at his watch. It was 9PM! Vlad stood up quickly to go find Talitha, but he almost fell over from weakness. He put his hand up to the wall to keep his balance. He hadn't felt this weak since he was dying of a cold.

He slowly walked to the exit of the cave. He then looked up in shock. In front of him maybe 20ft away was the deer from his dream. He could hear that voice in his head again, "Kill…" It wasn't any voice he knew.

"What's going on?" Vlad thought out loud.

"KILL!" The voice screamed.

Vlad's mind went completely blank and he lunged. He had no thoughts or memories after that.

"Vlad!" Vlad heard someone yell for him. He opened his eyes slowly to find Talitha starring at him with worry. He snapped out from his sleepy state and looked around at where he was. He fell asleep against a tree trunk. Then Vlad remembered about the deer. He looked down at his clothes and hands. There wasn't any blood on him. But he knew that he had killed it. He could still taste the animal blood in his mouth. He wasn't sure how he hadn't gotten any blood on him but he seemed to have managed.

"Vlad, are you ok?" Talitha helped him stand up.

He wasn't sure how to answer. Everything confused him. He didn't want to kill that deer but he did. Then he remembered the necklace. He took it off and stared at it.

"Vlad!" Talitha yelled.

Vlad looked at her, "What?"

"Are you ok?"

"I think so." He looked back at the necklace. "How long have you been here?"

"Five minutes maybe. How long have you been here?"

"I don't know." He looked at his watch, 2AM. "Maybe 4 or 5 hours."

Talitha gave him a weird look. "We need to get somewhere safe." She reached for Vlad's hand.

Suddenly a UV bomb set off right between them and they were knocked to the side. Vlad didn't hesitate. He rushed to Talitha's aid and helped her stand up, "Let's go!"

He started to run but they were cut off again by another bomb. Vlad stepped back but was blinded by the light.

"Don't move!" Someone yelled. Vlad decided to do as they said until he found his way out of this. His vision quickly recovered and two slayers step toward them, guns ready. They had motorcycle helmets on.

"Give us the necklace," demanded one of the slayers.

"What do you want with it?" Vlad asked.

"Classified," said the other.

"If we give it to you will you let us go?" Talitha asked.

"We'll see."

Vlad doubted that they would. He saw that Talitha had the container in her hands. He didn't have time. The slayers would either slay them here or take them back for questioning. He snatched the container from Talitha and threw it at the slayers hoping to distract them. Unfortunately that isn't all that happened. Vlad had accidently let out a wave of electricity from his hand and hit both the slayers who then went flying. Vlad didn't really want to stay to find out if they were ok. He took Talitha's hand and ran.

After about an hour he finally stopped to rest. He looked around and saw a sign that said they were 10 miles out from Berlin. They had reach Germany. Vlad was fast but he was not that fast. This shouldn't be possible. Talitha looked shocked as well.

"Ok let's find a hotel and spend the day there while we figure out what's up with you," Talitha suggested.

They found a place called Raddison Blu. Vlad had hypnotized the woman at the check in counter to get them a room even though the hotel was booked. Vlad looked out the window of their room, starring at the giant aquarium in the middle of the hotel, while Talitha held the necklace.

"So when we separated you passed out in a cave, had a dream of a shadow standing on a lake, woke up and then fell asleep again in the forest?" Vlad decided to not tell her about the kill part. He wasn't sure why put something just told him he should keep it a secret.

"Yeah that's about it," Vlad sat next to her on the couch and took the necklace back from her.

"Well clearly it's the necklace. Maybe we should take it somewhere to be looked at."

"Who though?" Vlad knew what she was about to say but hoped maybe she had a different plan.

"Your sister's boyfriend seems to be very smart and great at research. Maybe he can find something out about it."

Vlad whined like a child which Talitha laughed at, "Do you really hate your sister that much?"

"I don't hate her at all. I just don't like her that much. She tries to kill me all the time."

Talitha laughed again, "Just go. Once you get the information about that necklace than we can meet up back at the temple in India."

"Meet up? Where are you going?"

"My dad wants to see me. He says he misses me and wants to spend some time together. Also, I think he just wants to get me away from you."

At that Vlad rolled his eyes, "Fine. I'll go alone."

Talitha crawled into his lap and started to kiss him. She pulled away and said, "Be safe."

Vlad smiled, "I always am."

With that they went to bed together.


	2. Chapter 2

**I do want to remind everyone that I am from the US so I use US measurements. Also, thanks for reading and I hope you will review. I do not own Young Dracula.**

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Vlad had another dream that day. It was in the same place. The same man stood on the lake. The only difference is that his left eye was glowing red.

"Not enough," the voice in Vlad's head said. "Kill…"

"Who are you?" Was all Vlad could say.

The shadow pointed to the left just like last time. Vlad was afraid to look but he did anyway. This time a man was standing there. He was wearing a gray suit with a blue tie. He was staring at his phone. What was strange is he seemed to be frozen in time.

"No," said Vlad.

"Kill!" Said the voice.

"No!" Vlad yelled. Suddenly he was awake. Talitha stared at him with worry. She was using the bed sheet to cover herself as she sat up.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

Vlad hesitated to answer. He looked at his left hand and noticed he was holding the necklace. How had he gotten it? He thought he had left it on the couch.

"I'm fine," he finally said. "Just another dream."

"Your dreams always mean something," Talitha said as she looked at the clock on the nightstand. "Come on. It's 6PM. The sooner you get back home the better."

"Home," Vlad whispered. He hadn't been back there since his family had all gone their separate ways. He wasn't sure he ever considered it his home, but it was more his home than anywhere else.

At about 8PM, the stood outside the hotel. He kissed Talitha goodbye.

"See you soon," she said. "Stay safe."

"Always am."

"Not Always."

With that he transformed into a bat and flew off toward England. Talitha watched him disappear, wondering if everything would be ok. She had smelled the animal blood on him back at the forest. She hoped that maybe he would tell her the truth but he didn't. Maybe he didn't trust her as much as she thought.

She let out a sigh and flew off to her family's meeting place in Paris.

At about 1AM, Vlad had made it to the UK. He decided to take a break and landed just outside of a small town. He took out his bottle of soy blood from his backpack and took a sip. It never tasted good at all but it did its job. He placed the bottle back in his bag and watch the town lights for a bit.

He was just about to leave when a bus rolled in to the stop at the bottom of the hill. Vlad thought it was strange for a bus to stop at this hour. Then the passengers steeped off and Vlad was shocked. The man from his dream was there. Vlad wanted to leave but e couldn't move. All of this was very strange.

While Vlad was distracted a UV ray hit him in the arm. Vlad instinctively got down on one knee and stayed down.

Holding his arm Vlad tried to look for a way out. The only thing Vlad could think of was to head down the hill into town and hid out there for a bit. Bit that was where the man was going and he wanted to avoid him. He didn't want to have another memory lapse.

"Come on out Vladimir Dracula!" A slayer called.

Vlad chose not to say anything. The slayers stepped closer to where Vlad was hiding. He didn't have time. Vlad ran down hill as slayers shot UV rays just over his head. He got into town and hid in an ally way. He waited for the slayers to leave.

There seemed to be a lot in the area searching for him. Vlad could smell them all around. He hated feeling this way. He always had to run from these people. Why was he even running? He could easily push them back. He could easily just threaten them.

As he was lost in thought, Vlad saw out of the corner of his eye the man for the bus stop. Was he stupid? Why was he walking around so late on his own?

Vlad shook his head. Why did he even care? He should be getting out of here and head to Ingrid's.

He wasn't sure why but he reached into his backpack and pulled out the necklace. Was this really affecting his thoughts? Maybe even his actions? Vlad stared at it for a moment and his mind went blank once again. "Kill!" Was the last thing he heard.

When Vlad came back to his senses, he was standing in a different ally. This time there was blood on his hands. The man laid dead on the ground.

"What the hell?!" How could he let this happen? There are slayers in the area. The only reason they have been so lenient with him is because he never causes any trouble. If they saw this than they would have no reason to hold back. Also, since he has been spotted, he couldn't just run. He had to get rid of the body.

Vlad looked at his watch, 2AM. It had only been an hour. Vlad acted quickly. He found a dumpster to throw the body in and he then set it on fire.

Even if the body was found, it would be too burnt up to tell if a Vampire had killed him. Now that the body was taken care off, Vlad began to relax.

What was he thinking? He just killed someone. How could he just easily shrug it off this way? Probably because it wasn't his fault. Something was controlling him. Vlad looked down and realized he was wearing the necklace. He quickly took it off and threw it in the backpack. Then he realized he still had blood in his hands.

Vlad found a fountain and he started to wash it off. He also washed his face just in case. He kept looking over his shoulder just in case a slayer had tried to sneak up on him. He really didn't have to do that though. He could smell them and knew they were a few miles out. Too far to worry about them that much.

Vlad knew that it was because he drained someone that his senses were a lot clearer. He could probably move a lot faster now.

Vlad decided that he was running out of moonlight and needed to get going. He easily avoided all the slayers on his way out of town. He was right to believe that he could move a lot faster now. He actually reached his destination within 2 hours. He was only a couple miles out from his former home. He took another break but made sure the necklace stayed out of his mind.

For once his thirst was gone. He had no need to pull out the soy blood, so he decided how he would explain everything to Ingrid and Piers. Should he leave out the killing part like he did before? He decided he would tell them about the voice that is trying to influence him but leave out that he actually might be listening to it. Unwillingly of course.

He hurried over to the old school and reached the gate. He decided to just let himself in. He came to the old throne/dinning room. He about walked in but then heard someone yelling. Typical Ingrid. He figured he would listen in for a second and hopefully avoid getting involved.

"Why don't you pay more attention to me? You are always playing on your computers!" Yep, definitely wanted to stay out of this one.

"I do pay attention to you. I have work I have to keep up with also," argued Piers.

"You're work is making computer games. It shouldn't take that much time."

"With as much research you always want me to do on Vampire stuff, yes. It takes a lot of time."

Ingrid seemed to let the argument drop, as she didn't say anything else. Vlad figured that now would be a good time to walk in. He opened the door and found Ingrid sitting on the couch by the fireplace. Piers sat next to her with his arm around her.

When Piers saw him he quickly stood up, "Vlad?" Vlad noted that Piers was still human.

"Hey," was all he could think to say.

Ingrid stood up next to Piers, "What are you doing here?" It didn't sound like she was happy to see him.

Vlad decided to just cut right to it, "I need a favor from you Piers." Vlad pulled out the necklace from his backpack, this time using a handkerchief to hold it. He handed it to Piers and he stared at it in awe.

"Talitha and I found it back in Romania," Vlad said.

"Speaking of the hippie," said Ingrid. "Where is she?"

Vlad didn't want to get off topic but chose to answer her, "She is visiting her dad in France." Ingrid nodded and took the necklace from Piers.

"So what do you want me to do with it?" Piers asked.

"There is some sort of magic going on with it. I need you to find out what's going on and, if you can, find out who owned it before," Vlad took a seat on the couch opposite of them.

Ingrid and Piers sat back down, Ingrid still holding the necklace, "What sort of magic?"

Vlad shrugged his shoulders, "Since I found it I have blackouts." Vlad continued his story. He was careful to leave out that he actually had killed an animal and a man. But he did tell them that he had seen them outside of his dream.

Ingrid looked at him crooked, "And you are sure you haven't been actually doing what the voice is telling you? Because you do smell like breather."

"I'm sure," Vlad found it easy to lie.

"Besides, I'm half breather."

Ingrid seemed to be satisfied with his answer, "Yeah well you did choose to be a Vampire in the end. "

"Doesn't change anything," It doesn't right? Vlad thought to himself.

Piers took the necklace back from Ingrid, "I look into it."

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "Of course." She said it to herself but both of the guys heard her.

Piers started to walk out the room when Vlad said, "Umm… is it alright if I observe? I'm really curious to find out what's going on." Vlad also didn't want it out of his sight for some reason. He didn't want anything to happen to it.

"Fine with me," Piers replied.

"Well I'm going sleep early tonight," Ingrid said. "Both of you have fun solving the mystery of the cursed jewelry." She then sped out the room.

Vlad followed Piers to a room that used to be his dad's.

Everything has been set up like a lab. There were 6 computers spread out in the room, and a large table off to the side with a light hovering over it. There was also a white board set up with all kinds of codes written on it and all sorts of tools and gadgets on every wall.

"You need all this to make computer games?" Vlad asked.

"I do more than just make computer games. Ingrid just likes to say that is all I do." Piers started up all his computers, " I also design weapons."

Vlad gave him a weird look, "Weapons?"

"Nothing crazy," Piers explained. "Mostly they are for defense. They aren't really meant to defend against Vampires as they are really more for defending against well… hopefully anything."

"You're trying to protect Ingrid," Vlad realized.

Piers shrugged his shoulders, "You know how she is. Very proud."

Vlad nodded in agreement, "I'm actually surprised to see you are still human."

Piers frowned, "She won't really tell me why, but if I can't fight for her one way then I will at least find other ways to defend her."

Vlad knew the reason why Ingrid wouldn't turn him but he decided it wasn't his place to tell him.

"Anyway," Piers continued. "Enough of that. Let's focus on the 'cursed jewelry'" he held up the necklace.

Vlad did his best not to stare at it. The more he looked at the necklace, the more he wanted to take it from Piers. He knew what would happen if he did.

After about an hour into Piers examining the necklace Vlad began to yawn.

"You should get some rest," Piers said. "I will let you know what I find out. Your room is just like you left it."

Vlad didn't want to leave but he decided that he should. He was getting too attached to the necklace. "Alright," Vlad agreed." Wake me if anything comes up." He walked to the door.

"Will do," Piers said.


	3. Chapter 3

**2 chapters in one day! Please review. I do not own Young Dracula.**

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Vlad woke up around 7PM. He hadn't dreamt that night which was a good sign. He climbed out of his coffin and found a change of clothes. He took a shower to try to get the remainder of the breather smell off him.

He went to the throne room and found Piers there with another girl, both of them sitting at the table. Vlad recognized her as one of Ingrid's half-fangs. She had straight blonde hair and blue eyes. She had on a black tank top and jean shorts. She also wore black sneakers.

She had her eyes fixed on the necklace that Piers held in his hand. Vlad didn't like anyone staring at the necklace. The half-fang looked up as Vlad walked up to them.

"What's your name?" Vlad asked her.

"Jessica," she answered.

"Do you know where my sister is Jessica?"

"Probably preparing to go hunting."

Vlad figured his sister still hunted breathers from time to time, "Does she ever take any of you with her?"

Jessica looked very uneasy with Vlad, "Not normally. She just lets us drink from the blood cellar. Only one glass a night."

Vlad looked at Piers and noticed he had a couple books laid out in front of him. "Why don't you go with her tonight?" He told Jessica, "Tell her Vlad said so."

Jessica smiled and hurried out the room.

"Ingrid wont like you bossing her around," Piers said not looking up from what he was reading.

"She'll get over it," Vlad said as he sat across from Piers.

"You're encouraging they go hunting?" Piers asked.

Vlad hadn't thought of that so he quickly came up with a reason, "If a half-fang goes with her then she wont stay out as late. That means less people will probably be killed."

Piers gave him a look. Vlad wasn't sure he bought it, but Piers seemed to be willing to let it go.

"Actually," Vlad thought of an answer that might be more acceptable. "I rather no one else know about the necklace. Just the people who need to know about it."

Piers looked up at Vlad and nodded, "Fair enough. You want to go to my lab. I have an idea that will help us figure this thing out." Piers motioned toward the necklace.

Vlad stood up and followed Piers. When they got to the lab Piers set the necklace on the table.

"So," Piers began. "I have made pretty much no progress on finding out what this things is exactly."

Vlad sighed, "Great."

"But I do have a plan, but you might not like it."

"Go on?" Vlad did not like the sound of this.

"I want you to put the necklace on and we will see what happens. We can see if you have the same dream, look for differences, and then go from there."

Vlad didn't like that at all, "Uhh… I'm not so sure of that Piers."

"Well I know it's all strange but they are just dreams. We just need to find the meaning behind them and find out who is trying to get you to kill. It's not like the guy is actually succeeding anyway."

Vlad looked down at his feet, unsure of what to say.

"Or is he?" Piers got wide eyed. "Vlad please tell me you haven't been actually doing what he tells you?"

Vlad looked up at him, "Well I didn't want to. He would knock me out some how and make me do it."

Piers stood their shock, "Wait, so you killed that guy in your dream?"

"I told you, it wasn't on purpose. I didn't want to."

Piers rubbed his eyes and sighed, "Vlad this isn't good you know that right?"

"Why do you think I'm here?!"

"Don't yell at me. Look I know you don't want to but I still think you should wear the necklace at least one more time. I might actually have a theory but I need you to test it."

Vlad hesitated, "What if the guy shows me someone I know?"

"We'll figure it out from there. But as soon as you wake up, take the necklace off and hand it to me."

Vlad really didn't want to do this but he wanted to know what was happening, "Ok." Piers held out the necklace. Before Vlad took it he said, "But you can't tell anyone about this. Not even Ingrid."

"I won't," Piers promised.

Vlad took the necklace and put it on. Vlad instantly felt tired.

"Woah," Piers caught Vlad as he fell forward and set him against the wall.

Vlad was back at the lake. Again, everything was the same. This time the man's left arm and leg was visible. His other eye was now glowing red like the other. There was one more thing Vlad could see, fangs. The man was a Vampire.

Vlad wasn't incredibly shocked by this. But that still didn't answer who this guy was. This time Vlad chose not to speak at all.

The Vampire followed routine and pointed to the left. This time when the word "Kill," was said, it came from the Vampire. It was a little clearer. A deep and powerful voice, but still a little weak.

Vlad looked to where he pointed. This time two people stood there. A middle-aged man and woman. They were holding hand and looking at each other smiling. Like the other man, they were frozen. This Vampire's kill list was getting more and more extreme each time. Still, all of this felt familiar. He has seen something like this before.

Then he realized where he had seen all this before, "Are you related the Sithius?" No answer.

Vlad was getting frustrated, "Answer me!"

The Vampire laughed. The dream ended.

Vlad woke up still in the lab. Suddenly Vlad was extremely thirsty again.

"Who's Sithius?" Piers asked.

Vlad couldn't answer. He held his throat. It had never felt this dry before.

Piers had seen this before. He tried to reach for the necklace but Vlad grabbed it. Not letting him take it.

Vlad looked up at Piers. His eyes were glowing red. For a second Piers had thought maybe Vlad was going to kill him. Maybe Vlad saw him in the dream.

"Vlad," Piers tried to calm him down. "Please listen to me. I will get you some blood, but you have to give me that necklace."

"NO!" Vlad shouted. That wasn't the best thing for Piers to say. Vlad was clearly in some sort of trance.

Vlad jumped up a knocked Piers over. In a split second, Vlad was gone.

"Shit," Piers said under his breath.

Piers decided to take his van and see if he could track Vlad. He had no idea how he was going to find him. Even if he did, Vlad is not in his right mind. He might kill him if he got in his way. He really didn't have much choice though. What if a slayer had found Vlad like that?

Piers turned down an unpaved road and almost ran into someone. He slammed on his breaks and just missed them. He got out of his truck to find Jessica standing right next to him, "You almost hit me!"

Piers rolled his eyes, "You would have lived."

Ingrid appeared next to her, "Piers? What are you doing here?"

Piers had planned ahead for this situation. He always had a plan, "I came to find you. The half-fangs back at home are upset that you took Jessica with you hunting."

"Why can't Vlad handle them? This was his idea," Ingrid argued.

"He and I are in the middle of an experiment right now. We should really get you a new cell phone, so I can call you when stuff like this happens."

Ingrid let out a hiss, "Whatever, I'll see you back home."

"I need to go into town real quick to pick up something. I'll be there as soon as I can," He gave Ingrid a kiss, but she pulled away after 2 seconds and flew off. Jessica followed. She was clearly in a bad mood.

Piers got back in his truck and continued his search. He finally found Vlad asleep by a creek. Whoever that voice told Vlad to kill, he killed them. He had blood on his face, clothes and hands. Vlad killed like an Animal.

Piers carefully pulled the necklace off and took a handful of water and threw it on Vlad's face. It was enough to wake him up.

Vlad sat up and looked at his hands, "Great." You could see something in his eyes, but it wasn't shame or regret. It was more like anger or annoyance.

Piers went to his truck and grabbed a towel. He dipped it into the creek and handed it to Vlad. Vlad stood up and cleaned off the blood as they walked to the truck. Vlad continued to wipe of the blood as Piers drove home.

"So what did you see?" Piers broke the silence.

Vlad told him everything. He also told him about Sithius.

"So what does he have to do with all of this?"

Vlad sighed, "It's all very similar. Sithius need blood to be pored into his book to come back, but he needed slayers blood. This guy isn't as picky I guess. He still seems to be making the targets bigger each time. "

Piers turned into the schoolyard and turned off the truck.

"So you think they are related?" Piers asked

"I don't know. I really don't think it matters at this point. I just want this all to be over." Vlad continued to pick at the dry blood on his hands.

"Well clearly this guy needs blood." Piers continued, "Last time it was a book. This time you are the book."

Vlad nodded in agreement.

Piers sighed, "You still want to keep this from Ingrid?"

"Of course," said Vlad. "The necklace has our family's coat of arms on it. I don't want something like this to happen to her too."

Piers understood, "You should go get cleaned up. I'll meet you in the lab."


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry it took me longer to update than I said I was going to. I really struggled to write this chapter for some reason. Please Review! You're input really helps me to be motivated, and also helps me to grow as a writer.**

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Vlad walked into the lab hair still wet from his shower. He saw Piers had the necklace locked up in a glass case.

"You know that wont stop me from getting it right," said Vlad.

Piers stood up and threw a pen at the box. I ball of electricity appeared around it and the pen became non-existent.

"There's also garlic coated around the box as well as an alarm that will set off if you get to close," Piers explained. "So unless you want to disintegrate, I think you'll stay away."

"Why put it where I can see it though?"

"An exercise. You are losing your self-control. Hopefully this will help with that. You'll be tempted, but hopefully the thought of possibly dying will keep you away."

"You really thought this through," said Vlad.

"I always do. So, how do you feel?"

"Better. One benefit of drinking human blood is that you feel really strong after."

Piers looked at him with a little concern, "Well don't get used to it. Hopefully we will find a way to destroy the thing so we can move past this."

Vlad was shocked, "Destroy it? Why?"

"Well clearly it isn't worth the trouble to experiment anymore on it, and someone could be trying to come back in a way that Sithius did before."

"Fine, but why do we have to destroy it? It clearly used to belong to my family."

"Alright then. Maybe we should call your dad into this. He is head of your family."

Vlad was starting to get angry, "No way! He wouldn't be any help."

"Then what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. I'm so confused." Vlad sat down and put his head in his hands.

"Oh same here," said Piers. "But I know why I'm confused. Why are you confused?"

Vlad looked up, "Ok you are really getting on my nerves."

Piers stood up, "Alright, let's rewind. You, for whatever reason, want that necklace. When you even touch it, someone gets into your head and makes you kill people and you don't even remember killing those people. Also, you don't seem to have any remorse for the lives you just took. Also, a Vampire seems to grow back its body parts with every person you kill. So tell me, why do you want to keep this thing around?"

Vlad thought about it for a second, "I don't know. I just feel like I should."

Piers threw his hands in the air, "Then I don't know what else to do but call your dad here and have him make the final decision."

"Ok fine! Call him!" Vlad snapped.

"Fine, but until he gets here," Piers pointed at the box. "Stay away from that."

 **One Week Later**

Vlad stood in the lab staring at the necklace. There had been no incidents all week thankfully, but Vlad had been having dreams. It wasn't abnormal for him. But the dreams have all been about the necklace. Someone was trying to get his attention. They needed his help and Vlad was just curious enough to help them. This worried him more than anything. Lately he had been re-evaluating his morals, and this was even before he had come across the necklace.

 **3 Months Ago**

"We should go to America next," Talitha said. "I would like to see New York. It looks like fun."

Vlad appeared beside her at the table. Talitha was looking up travel destinations on her laptop, "Isn't that a little modern for you? Thought ancient temples were your sort of thing."

"Well yes, but I was thinking that we are going to live forever right? Maybe we should experience more modern things now because in a few hundred years they may no longer exist."

Vlad sat next to her for a moment and thought about it. That was very true. The world is always changing. They should see what it has to offer now before it's gone.

"Alright," Vlad said. "But we should leave soon before your monk friend tries to stop you."

Talitha rolled her eyes. "Choden isn't so bad. I don't know why you are so annoyed with him."

Vlad got up and moved around the table, "He's just too strict. Even I want to have fun every once in a while. He doesn't even leave his temple unless he's sure we're about to do something he thinks is too radical. Like going to New York, so we should go before he sees in his magic crystal ball that we are going there."

"He's just doing his job," Talitha argued. "And we made an oath."

"Yeah to not harm anyone. Not to be parented by a bunch of over religious bald guys."

"You didn't have a problem with it then. You knew they would always be checking in on us. So why are you so frustrated?"

Vlad shrugged his shoulders, "I guess I just don't like them tying us down."

"They aren't tying us down. We made the oath and all they are doing is making sure we aren't tempted by anything that could lead us astray."

"Which is pretty much anything to them."

Talitha rolled her eyes, "Vlad, you are ok right?"

"Yes. Why you're asking?"

"You just seem jumbled lately. Are you having second thoughts?"

"About what?"

"Deciding to live this life. You are the Chosen One after all. It would be only natural if your instincts are telling you that you aren't in the right place."

Vlad sighed, "I'm fine." He walked to the other room to grab some things for the trip.

Talitha followed, "While you being half human has allowed you to have more sympathy for them, you did decide to embrace your vampire side.

Vlad looked her in the eyes, "I only did that because my family needed me."

"But you don't think it could still be influencing you at all? Making you want to rebel?"

Vlad was getting annoyed. He put his hands on Talitha's shoulders, "I'm fine. I may be annoyed, but I'm happy with how my life is now."

Vlad kissed her, "We need to get going."

 **Present Day**

That was just the very beginning of it. Every moment after, all he could think about was that he was missing out on something. When he told Talitha that he was happy he felt like he was more trying to convince himself. Vlad couldn't help feeling that this necklace will help him find the purpose he was looking for.

Vlad headed out the room when he heard a whisper, " _Kill_ " Vlad jumped. That was not supposed to be possible. He wasn't supposed to be affected by the necklace unless he was wearing it.

" _Kill!_ " Vlad felt his mind starting to go blank again. Some how he managed to snap out of it, and he got out of there quickly.

He appeared in the living area where Ingrid and Piers were. Piers kept his eyes on his laptop, "Your dad's servant called. He said they will be here about an hour after sunset."

When Vlad didn't answer Piers looked up, "Everything ok?"

"That voice spoke to me again," Vlad said.

Piers closed his laptop, "You didn't touch the necklace right?"

"No. I was near it, but I didn't touch it."

Ingrid looked at the two of them, "Why is this such a bad thing to you two? If all it does is show Vlad visions then it should be fine. Besides the visions can help you know what it does."

Ingrid was way too smart for him. There was no way he could think of an answer on the spot that would satisfy her.

"We think the voice has some relation to Sithius," Piers said. "Him being able to communicate with Vlad without him actually touching the necklace just isn't a good sign. We don't know what this voice wants exactly."

Vlad wanted to keep Ingrid in the dark as much as possible, but I guess giving her a little information wouldn't hurt. Piers really was clever. Hopefully that will be enough information to keep Ingrid from asking more questions. Besides, that last bit was a lie. They had a good idea what this guy wanted.

Ingrid lost interest and walked to the door, "I'm going out. I rather not be here when my father arrives."

"I thought everything was good between you two?" Vlad asked.

"For the most part, but I want to keep it that way. I think us not talking would be the best way to keep the peace."

Ingrid sped away.

Vlad sat down across from piers on the couch, "What are you working on now?"

"Well before you came in I was ordering some supplies for my weapons, but now that Ingrid is gone I'm looking up old VHC documents. Maybe they will have some record of the necklace somewhere in their files."

Vlad nodded and looked at the fireplace.

"You know, I've been thinking," Piers continued. "Maybe you should just go ahead and tell your family everything. I know you want to protect them from what you are going through, but something just tells me this voice wants you specifically."

"Why though?" Vlad asked.

"Well maybe because you are the Chosen One. That alone always makes you a target. Also, maybe it can only be you. Like Sithius could only come back with slayers blood. Maybe this guys also has special conditions that he has to follow in order for him to return."

Vlad thought about that. He supposed maybe it would be better to just tell them.

"Besides," Piers said. "Even if it did affect them, you really think they would mind killing humans. They do it all the time anyway. You aren't protecting them from much."

"Alright," Vlad finally spoke. "I'll tell dad everything. Ingrid also whenever she gets back. "

Piers nodded, "One more thing. What do you want to do really? We have a lot of the mystery solved. Except for who this voice belongs to. Do you want to be freed from this completely? You don't want the necklace destroyed so I don't know how we are going to do that right now. So the other option is to continue to help this guy. Do you really want that?"

Vlad wasn't sure. This whole time he felt like he should help the voice, but he figured that was just the voice manipulating him. Everything that has been happening is the voice's fault. If he had never found this necklace he would still be with Talitha. He may have been having some second thoughts about that oath he took, but he would have never killed anyone. He never had before. Still, he wanted to know more about the voice. Vlad has some sort of connection to him. He could sense it.

"Let's wait and see what my dad has to say," Vlad said.


	5. Chapter 5

**So I figured since I took so long to update last time I would give y'all another chapter today. Please Review.**

* * *

"Will you hurry up Renfield?! All you have done this whole trip was slow us down!" Said the Count.

"I'm sorry master. I'm still not used to these powers."

The Count rolled his eyes and looked up at his former home. Renfield and himself had just arrived. He let himself in deciding to let Renfield handle all the luggage.

He appeared in the throne room to find his son and Ingrid's breather pet doing research on the necklace that they had told him about.

"Ah Vladimir!" The Count walked over and patted Vlad on the shoulder. "It's good to see you again. You know you really should have stopped by in Australia to visit."

"Was kind of busy dad," Vlad explained.

The Count let out a small sigh, clearly unsatisfied with that answer. He moved to sit next to Vlad on the couch, "Well let's just cut to the chase then. What all do we know about this necklace you have found."

Piers decided he would be best to explain, "Vlad found it back in Romania. We believe it's similar to the Predictum Impaver in that there seems to be someone or thing living inside of it, and in order for them to come back it needs blood. That's our theory anyway."

The Count nodded, "So where is this necklace?" As he said that Renfield stumbled into the throne room carrying four large bags.

Vlad looked at his dad in suspicion, "How long do you expect to be staying?"

"Well I don't know how long it will take to solve this mystery. I figured I should have Renfield pack enough for at least a few weeks."

Vlad rolled his eyes at him.

"Uhh… master? Where do you want me to put all of this?"

"Oh just lay it over there for now," The Count pointed near the door.

Renfield set everything down and sighed in relief.

"Now," The Count stood up and clapped. "Where is the necklace?"

* * *

Piers and Vlad led the Count and Renfield to the lab. The Count looked around at all the tech in confusion but then laid eyes on the necklace. He moved over to get a closer look.

"Don't get so close," Vlad said. "You'll set of the alarm."

"Why is it in that box?"

"Too keep Vlad from touching it," Piers said.

The Count looked at the two of them in confusion, "Why?"

"There's more to all of this," Vlad said. "Like Piers said. We believe it works like the Predictum Impaver. This time you don't pour blood on it. Instead it needs someone, me, to drink blood while I'm wearing it to help them become strong enough."

The Count laughed, "Well whoever they are, they picked the wrong host."

"Well that's the thing," Piers interrupted. "The voice seems to be able to take control of Vlad."

"Voice?" The Count asked.

"That's what we refer to him as. He sort of talks to Vlad whenever he touches the necklace. The voice demands that Vlad kills people. That's why we are keeping it in that box, so Vlad wont touch it and be taken over again."

The Count gave his son a suspicious look, "So this voice has succeeded in getting you to kill for it?"

"Well not willingly, but yes. Each time I get this vision of this guy and his body becomes more visible. He then points to who ever he will make me kill next. I don't remember anything during that time. I snap out of it once it's all over."

The Count couldn't help but smile a little. This whole thing was a bit hilarious.

"Well it's not funny!" Vlad snapped.

"Oh yes it is," The Count said.

Vlad just decided to let it go.

"So I assume that the reason it needs to be locked up is because you're being tempted by it?"

"Right. I can't stop thinking about it. The voice has also found a way to speak to me without me actually touching it. I just have to be close enough I guess."

"What all does it say?"

"Just "kill". Very straight forward."

"Alright then, so what's the plan?"

"Well Vlad doesn't want it destroyed," Piers said. "So we are doing research on who could possibly be in there, and finding a way to break its connection to Vlad."

"Well I have a pretty good idea on who it could be," The Count said.

"Who?" Vlad, Piers and Renfield all said at once.

"Well clearly this thing is ancient. Also, you felt it had a connection to Sithius, and then there's the Family Coat of Arms. The one used back when this family first began. It's very likely that it's the first Dracula."

Piers and Vlad looked at each other. "But how it that possible?" Vlad said

"Sithius came back didn't he?"

"Well if that's that case then I rather not meet him," Piers said. "I vote we lock that thing away where you will never get to it," Piers pointed at Vlad.

"I wonder if that would even work," said the Count.

"What do you mean?" Vlad asked.

"Well this is old magic that we are dealing with, and you are being affected by it. This isn't something we can just throw away. I think it's best if we just give it what it wants."

Piers looked at the Count in shock, "Vlad is being forced to kill people against his will and you want to just let it happen? On top of that, this guy could be serious trouble for all of us!"

Vlad wasn't surprised by this, "You wanted his opinion Piers. What did you expect?"

"We could beat Sithius, " said the Count. "If this guy causes us problems then we do what we did last time."

"This is all assuming we are right about what the voice wants. What if we are wrong?" Piers said.

The Count looked at his son, "I'll leave it up to you."

Vlad shook his head, "I don't want anyone else to get hurt."

Suddenly, there was a faint glow coming from the necklace. "Please tell me I'm not the only one seeing this," Vlad said.

"You aren't," Piers assured him.

" _Kill!_ "

"I'm assuming that's your friend," the Count joked.

Piers looked at Vlad, concerned he was about to have another episode.

The voice then did something that surprised everyone. It said a complete sentence, " _Kill for me, and I will give you what you desire most._ "

"Well that sounds like a deal to me," said the Count.

"What is it you think I desire?" Vlad asked.

" _Power_."

"This guy clearly doesn't know you well," Piers said.

" _Power to protect those closest to you._ "

"Oh, well never mind then."

Vlad was confused, "I'm already the most powerful vampire there is. What your offering doesn't do me any good.

The voice laughed, " _You are so naive. You have no idea how much you still have to learn. Having power, and knowing how to use it are two completely different things. You help me, and I will teach you_ _how to protect the people you love."_

A picture formed above the necklace. There was Vlad's mother and his sister George laughing at the dinner table. He missed them so much. He was always worried about how they were doing.

"Who are you?" Vlad asked. "Are you the first Dracula?"

" _I am the one who knows all the secrets of the Chosen One. I am the one who chose you._ "

Vlad was in shock. Now he had even more questions. But all he could say was, "What?"

" _Think about it young Dracula. You have nothing to lose here, and everything to gain."_

The glow faded away and the voice was silent.

"So, what now?" Piers asked.


	6. Chapter 6

**I guess I'm just feeling motivated today...well here's the next chapter! Please Review!**

* * *

Vlad was in his room trying to register everything that has happened. He was actually considering this guys offer. This guy knew more about him then Vlad knew about himself. He claims to be the one that chose Vlad! Vlad had never thought about who actually chose him. He just always assumed maybe fate did. Now he wanted to ask the voice why he was the one who was chosen. Why wasn't someone chosen who wanted it? Vlad also considered that the voice was lying. He had reason to, but something just told Vlad that the voice was telling the truth.

Vlad sat down on the couch and put his face in his hands. What should he do?

There was a knock at the door. "Come in," Vlad answered.

Ingrid walked in with a concerned look on her face.

"What is it?" Vlad asked.

"Piers updated me on everything."

Vlad nodded and sighed.

Ingrid sat down next to him, "So what are you going to do?"

Vlad had no clue, "What do you think I should do?"

Ingrid shrugged her shoulders, "Well if it were me I would go through with it, but you aren't me. You are Dimidius. I can understand why this would be a bad situation for you."

"That doesn't really help."

"I know," Ingrid thought about it. "Maybe you should help the voice though. He is offering to help protect your family. He clearly has no intention on harming them, and if it does turn out he's lying then I'll help you take him down. Just like last time."

Vlad smiled, "Thanks Ingrid, but what about the people that will die from this? What if he actually tried to get me to kill someone I know."

Ingrid thought about it, "I'll follow you."

"What?" Vlad asked.

"When you put the necklace on and fly off, I'll follow you. Make sure everything is ok."

"What if you can't keep up? I am faster than you."

* * *

Ingrid led Vlad to Piers lab, "Piers, do you have anything that will make me go faster."

"Why?" Piers asked.

"We have a plan but I need to be able to run and fly as fast as Vlad can."

Piers got up from his chair, "So you're going through with it?"

Vlad shrugged his shoulders, "I guess I am."

Piers typed in a password into his computer and the box containing the necklace opened. Piers placed the necklace in its original container. He then grabbed a shoebox that was sitting on the shelf next to the white board.

"Let's go outside," he said. Ingrid grabbed ahold of his arm and they sped out to the courtyard. Piers stumbled a little, "I am never going to get used to that."

Piers opened the shoebox to reveal two leather bracelets, "I can't help increase your speed Ingrid, but I can help you find Vlad if you lose him. These bracelets have a built in tracking system. You just press this red button here and an arrow will appear telling you which way to go to find the person wearing the other bracelet."

Vlad and Ingrid nodded in understanding.

"By the way, the Count know we are doing this?"

"We can tell him later," Vlad replied. "We only have a few hours until sunrise."

Piers nodded and handed them the bracelets.

Ingrid looked at her brother concerned, "You do know what you're doing right? I mean you are actually about to kill breathers."  
"I know," Vlad said. "I'll have time to be guilty about it later."

All of this seemed way too unbelievable to Ingrid. Something else must be going on for Vlad to willing to throw his morals away for a voice that could be lying to him. She would have to remember to ask him later.

"Alright then," Piers opened the box and handed Vlad the necklace. Vlad put it on and once again blacked out. Piers caught him as he was about to fall over again. Ingrid gave him a look, "Oh yeah. He does that."

* * *

Once again, Vlad was back at the same lake. The vampire was there again. This time his whole left side was formed except his face. You could even see his dark straight hair that reached his chin. He wore a dark red robe similar to his dad's but older and it was torn like he had been in a fight.

" _You made the right decision Vladimir._ " The voice spoke. He then pointed like he always did. This time three men stood there.

" _Just a few more kills and I will be free of this prison._ "

"Will you keep your word?" Vlad asked.

" _I will. You can be assured of that._ "

The vision faded.

* * *

Vlad sped off and disappeared into the forest. Ingrid started to run after him but Piers grabbed her arm, "It's probably best if you keep your distance. Don't get in his way. I don't want you to get hurt."

Ingrid pulled her arm away and looked offended, "I'll be fine." She followed Vlad into the forest.

Ingrid stayed a few hundred feet behind Vlad. She couldn't see him, but the tracker kept her in the right direction. She never thought that she would be here in a million years. Her brother was just always so stubborn about protecting breathers. Something was really wrong. She planned on staying close by Vlad and hopefully get some answers.

Ingrid reached a clearing. Her brother had stopped there. She waited to see what he would do. She had no time to react when he turned around and threw a fireball at her. She fell over and hit her head on something. She blacked out.


	7. Chapter 7

**I hate to be one of these authors that beg for reviews..but I'm going to beg anyway. Please review guys! I'm serious when I say that it helps. I'm not afraid of constructive criticism. Even if all you can say is either "I like it" "I don't like it" I'm totally cool with that. Anything helps for me to know how y'all feel.**

* * *

When Ingrid regained conscious she saw her brother hovering over her.

"Ingrid? What happened?"

Ingrid quickly sat up, "You attacked me!"

Vlad didn't know what to say. The voice promised to help Vlad protect his family. Why would he have Vlad attack his own sister?

"What time is it?" Ingrid asked

"About 4 in the morning," Vlad answered. "Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine. Everything turn out ok?"

"I guess. The voice didn't show me anyone I knew. That voice is a little violent though. Had blood all over me again." Vlad showed Ingrid his stained shirt.

"Yeah, I can smell it. Let's get you back to the school and get you changed. We need to talk to dad about all of this."

Vlad agreed and they headed back.

* * *

Once Vlad had taken a shower he met Ingrid and Piers in the lab.

"How are you feeling?" Piers asked.

"Fine," Vlad kept his eyes on Ingrid though. She held a glass of blood. He hoped he hadn't hurt her. Next time the voice makes an appearance, Vlad will have to talk to him about that.

The necklace was back in the glass box. Vlad then remembered the tracker bracelet.

"Here," Vlad tried to hand it to Piers, but Piers refused.

"Keep wearing it. Just in case. Next time I will just track you on the computer and we will follow you in the van." He looked at Vlad with a bit of anger. Clearly he wasn't too happy about him knocking Ingrid out.

"I wasn't my fault you know," Vlad defended himself. "I don't even have any memories during that time."

"I'm not angry at you Vlad," Piers said. "But it's really hard to be angry and something without at face."

Vlad decided to just drop the conversation, "So where's dad?"

"He already went to his coffin," Ingrid replied. "You should just get some rest and we'll talk to him tonight."

Vlad went to his own coffin and instantly fell asleep.

* * *

Vlad found himself at the lake once more. He didn't wear the necklace so he must be in the Dream World.

The voice appeared in the same place as always. Almost his whole body was formed. They only thing missing was his face. All you could see was his eyes.

"Why did you attack Ingrid?! You promised you were going to help protect my family!"

The voice stayed silent.

"Answer me!"

The voice laughed, " _You actually think I hurt your sister? Fool! That was your own doing!_ "

"Why would I every hurt my own sister? She was trying to help me." Vlad then realized how abnormal that was for Ingrid.

" _You attacked her. You did not trust her. You did enough damage to keep her away until your hunt was over._ "

"I don't even remember anything that ever happens. It's all you making me do all these thing."

The voice let out a huge laugh that caused a mini earthquake, " _You really thought it was me doing the killing this whole time? That I some how took over your body and did these things? No! I only live within your subconscious._

"That's a lie!"

" _All I do is tell you what you should do and you carry it out. But for some reason you choose to let your instincts completely take you over. Now I know why. You don't want to feel responsible for your own actions. Your human side has made you so mentally weak. You'll let yourself believe anything._ "

Vlad had no idea what to say. He wanted to tell this guy off. He wanted to believe he was just lying to Vlad. He was only trying to manipulate him. But Vlad knew he was telling the truth. He felt trapped. His human side seems to only ever hold him back. Why was he even hanging on to it?

" _Because it is a part of you,_ " The voice answered Vlad's silent question. _"Your human side gives you strengths other vampires will never understand. You just need to learn to overcome the weaknesses that comes with it_."

"How?"

" _I told you that I would help you. I promise you that I will. Just one more kill and I will escape this prison and return to the real world. But you need to learn some control first. Next time you wear the Immortalis Carcerem, do not let your instincts take over._ "

"Immortalis _Carcerem_?" Vlad asked.

" _The thing you call a necklace. It means immortal prison._ "

"Why are you even in a prison? What did you do?"

" _I will answer all your questions once I return to the real world. I can't be here much longer. I'm not strong enough. Just one more kill. I will see you soon._ "

The dream faded.

* * *

When Vlad woke up he got dressed and went into the throne room. Piers and his dad were there and Renfield was serving the Count some blood.

Renfield looked at Vlad, "Would you like some master Vlad?"

"No thanks Renfield," Vlad sat down at the table.

Piers was on his laptop again, "I filled the Count in on everything."

"I have to say," the Count began. "I had no idea you had it in you to make such a decision Vladimir. I am concerned though. It's not like you to kill breathers for any reason. Even if our lives were at risk, you always found your way around it."

Vlad really didn't want to have this conversation with his father, "There's a lot you don't know about dad. I just don't care to tell you about it right now."

The Count smirked, "Well let me know when you are ready to talk."

The Count rose from his throne, "I'm going hunting." He disappeared from the room.

Piers looked up at Vlad from his computer, "Something wrong?"

"I had a dream last night. The voice spoke to me again."

Piers closed his laptop interested in what all the voice said.

Vlad told him everything that happened. Even what the voice said about him never controlling Vlad at all. That Vlad had been the one to do all of this on his own without even realizing it, "But I would never want to hurt Ingrid. Sure I'm suspicious of her all the time but I would never actually want to do her any harm."

Piers nodded, "I believe you."

Vlad let out a sigh of relief. He wanted Piers to stay on his side. He has been a lot of help up to this point.

"So I guess you want to go hunting tonight?"

Vlad shrugged, "Might as well get this over with."


	8. Chapter 8

**This will probably be the last time I update till the weekend. I'll have a lot more time then. But this should satisfy y'all until then. Please Review!**

* * *

Vlad, Ingrid and Piers were once again outside in the courtyard. Piers checked to make sure Vlad's tracker was working.

"I will follow you both in the van," Piers began. "Ingrid, since Vlad is suppose to be sane this time, you go with him. If he seems to be losing his mind, you leave him and meet up with me."

Ingrid nodded in understanding, "Vlad? Is it ok if I speak with you for a moment?"

Vlad gave her a blank look, "Sure."

Ingrid led him out of earshot of Piers, "You are about to willingly kill a breather. This is not you at all. Did anything happen before you found the necklace? Anything that is causing you to make this decision."

"I don't know. I guess I have been thinking about a lot of things," Vlad said.

Ingrid raised an eyebrow, "Like what?"

"Well during the time Talitha and I were traveling, I just remembered that I am the Chosen One?"

"Go on."

"I have this predestined purpose that I thought maybe I was just free of. But then I thought about how that could be. I thought I had to take that role. When it seemed that was the case, I didn't want anything to do with it. I didn't want to be a part of that sort of thing. When it seemed I was free of it, I thought 'What if?' I stopped looking at all the bad things and thought of the good that could maybe come from it."

Vlad paused to look at Ingrid's reaction. When she didn't say anything he continued, "Also, I started to think about you guys a lot. We always were in some sort of danger. I was worried that you might get hurt."

"So finally acting like a vampire, after all this time, is the solution?" Vlad was leaving something out. But she was starting to think that even Vlad had no idea why he was doing all of this. It was just so extreme for him.

When it seemed that Vlad wasn't going to say anything more Ingrid said, "Whatever. You do what you think is best. Just be sure you wont regret it later."

"Why do you care?" Vlad asked. "You only ever help anyone if there is something to gain."

Ingrid looked down at her feet, "I guess you can say Piers has been a good influence on me. A lot can happen in a few months as you have clearly demonstrated."

Ingrid walked back over Piers. Vlad thought about everything Ingrid had said. She was right. This wasn't like him at all. He really couldn't tell anyone why though. He just decided that going with the flow was his best option at this point. That's when he remembered. Talitha! He completely forgot about her. What would she think about all of this? She was going to find out. But he couldn't back out now. Not just because of what his girlfriend might think.

Vlad just shook his head and walked back over to Piers and Ingrid.

"Ready?" Piers asked.

"As I'll ever be," Piers handed Vlad the necklace.

* * *

For hopefully the last time, Vlad was at the lake. The voice was still without a face.

" _Remember, do not let your instincts control you completely. When you wake up concentrate on your sister. Think about her voice. If it helps, hold her hand. Let her help you keep your mind focused._ "

Vlad frowned, "I don't want to hurt her again."

" _You wont if you do as I say._ "

The voice pointed. There was only a deer standing there.

"That's it?"

" _That is all I need."_

"Well that's not so bad then."

The voice chuckled, " _We'll see._ "

* * *

Vlad woke up. He looked straight at Ingrid. Hopefully the advice he was given will work.

"So what did he say?" Piers asked.

Vlad had to work really hard to focus, "Just a deer. Like the first time I wore the necklace."

"Really?" Ingrid said, "Well this will be easy then."

"He also said for me to use you as a way to focus," Vlad said while looking at Ingrid.

"Why me?"

"I don't know. But it won't hurt to try it."

Piers pulled out an earpiece and handed it to Ingrid, "We will use this to communicate. Keep me updated every few minutes on what's going on."

Piers then gave Vlad a look that said, "You hurt my girlfriend again and it will be the last thing you ever do."

Vlad got the message, "Let's go then."

He and Ingrid sped off while Piers took the van and followed behind the best he could.

About 30 seconds in Piers talked into the earpiece, "Check check. Can you hear me Ingrid?"

"I can hear you," She replied.

"Everything good so far?"

"Everything is fine."

"Good. Remember to keep checking in."  
"I'll remember."

Vlad chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Ingrid complained.

"I can hear him through your earpiece," Vlad said. "He seems to care a lot about you."

"Yeah," was all Ingrid said.

Vlad noted that it was getting easier and easier to focus. Maybe everything will turn out ok.

It didn't take long for them to find the deer. It was actually sleeping in a huge pile of grass.

"Well that was easy," Vlad said.

"We found the deer," Ingrid said to Piers.

"Good," Piers replied. "I'm only about a mile out from where you are. Hurry and get back."

"Alright."

Vlad was just about to attack when he smelled something else. He had no doubts that a slayer was near by. Vlad's head began to hurt and he could feel himself losing control. He stepped back and broke a stick. This alerted the deer and it started to make a run for it.

"No," Ingrid said. Then she noticed her brother who was now on his knees holding his head.

"Vlad?"

"Ingrid?" Piers said. "What's happening?"

"I think he's loosing it?"

"Get out of there!" Piers demanded, but Ingrid didn't want to leave her brother like this.

"Vlad what's wrong?" She asked.

"Slayer…close by…" was all he could manage.

"Do you want me to stay?" She could

"No Ingrid!" Piers yelled through the earpiece. "Get out of there!"

Ingrid had no idea what to do. She couldn't leave her bother here if a slayer was near.

Vlad surprised her when he suddenly grabbed her hand and pulled her down, "Stay."

"What are you doing?" Piers said.

Vlad needed her. The voice knew that he would.

"I'm staying Piers," Ingrid said.

"Ingrid you…"

"I can't leave him!" Ingrid interrupted.

"I'm coming there then."

Ingrid didn't have time to protest. But if she didn't get Vlad under control then he might hurt Piers.

"Vlad, listen to me. You said you wanted us, your family, to be safe. If you really want that then we need you to protect us. You're supposed to be the most powerful vampire in the world. Are you really so weak that you can't control your own actions?"

Vlad lessened his grip on her. "No…" He said. "I wont let anything happen to you."

He looked her in the eye and stood up, "I'm not going to let anything happen to my family." He disappeared and Ingrid had a feeling he wasn't going after the deer.

Piers ran to her side with some sort of gun in his hand.

"Who were you planning on using that on?" Ingrid asked.

"Well it was for…just in case…well it wouldn't kill him!" He sort of explained.

"Whatever," Ingrid said. "We need to follow him." She held on to his arm and headed the direction Vlad went.

* * *

Ingrid used the tracker to find Vlad. They reached a clearing and stopped. When she saw what was in the center she knew they were in the right place.

"Piers, is this what I think it is?"

"I believe it is," he replied. "It's the location of Vlad's visions. Like he described."

They heard something drop behind them and turned around. A slayer lay dead at their feet. Vlad was standing over him. He wasn't covered in blood like before. It had been a clean kill. Vlad wiped what little blood there was from his chin.

"All better?" Ingrid asked.

Vlad nodded.

"So what now?" Piers asked.

Vlad looked over to the lake, "Well I guess we're in the right place."

The necklace then lit up. Vlad took it off and stared at it.

" _Throw it to the lake,_ " the voice said.

He threw it toward the center. It didn't fall in though. It hovered there. Suddenly a fire started from the necklace. For it formed a body. When the fire faded, what stood there was the vampire from his visions. He was complete. His eyes opened to show glowing red iris'.

He stepped forward and started walking on top of the water. Ingrid and Piers felt uneasy. They weren't really sure what to expect. But Vlad kept a frown on his face. For once he had no fear. If this guy moved toward his sister and friend then he would defend them.

The vampire reached them on land and studied them. He then laid eyes on Vlad, "Good work. You passed the test."

"Who are you?" Vlad demanded.

He smiled, "I am known just as Dracula. The first Dracula."


	9. Chapter 9

**I really should be doing my school work right now... anyway this chapter is just a lot of backstory. This is my own original idea of how the vampires came to be with maybe a little inspiration from an outside source(I honestly don't know. I don't know where half my ideas come from) Anyway, it was kind of necessary to push the story along so hopefully I made it interesting enough so y'all aren't bored. Enjoy and please review!**

* * *

When they arrived back at the school, Vlad lead their guest to the throne room where his father was waiting. Ingrid and Piers followed behind.

When the Count saw them enter he had a questionable look, "Who is this?"

"He claims to be the first Dracula," Vlad explained.

"I'm known as Dracula, but I can see how that may be confusing. So instead you may call me Draco (NOTE: Not pronounced like the character in Harry Potter. Instead the 'A' is pronounced like in Dracula)

"So what is your purpose for being here Draco?" said the Count. "And how is it that you survived all this time?"

"I survived thanks to the _Immortalis Carcerem_ ," he began. "Normally it would be a prison where I held my enemies, but after I noticed that my brothers and sisters had become corrupt, I saw it useful to allow me to hold my spirit so I could survive to hopefully meet the Chosen One."

"You mentioned you were the one who chose me? How and why me?"

Draco turned to face Vlad, "As I said, my siblings were becoming corrupt. Our father was the very first vampire. He became depressed and wanted to kill himself. At the time he didn't know how. No vampire has been killed yet. We stayed in the shadows just on instinct. We felt more powerful in the darkness. But he still managed to find a way. I don't know how he knew to do this. Maybe it was just a hunch. He took a dagger and pierced his own heart. My eldest sister actually saw what happened and told me. We choose to keep it a secret from the others and just told them we had found just the ashes."

Ingrid laughed, "You seriously expect us to believe all of this?"

"Let him speak," Vlad said.

"There were 10 of us and decided it was best if we all ruled on equal terms. We were Kings and Queens of the world. We feared no one. But then my younger brother became greedy. He decided to conspire against us. You met him recently."

"Sithius," Ingrid and Vlad said at the same time.

"He wasn't an idiot though. He convinced four of our siblings to join him and a war began. My eldest sister was smart though she found a spell book that we could use to trap Sithius and contain him."

"You knew how to kill him though," Vlad said. "Why didn't you just pierce his heart?"

"My sister didn't want to do it. She believed killing our own kind would just divide us more. Imprisonment, however, was acceptable."

"After you stopped Sithius, what did you do?" Piers asked.

Draco gave Piers an evil glare. He would have to deal with the breather later.

"I did not have my sisters wisdom. As the eldest son, I decided to use my siblings who betrayed us as an example. We still gave them a trial, but when it came time to deliver the punishments, all I had was hatred for them. I ordered them dead. I gathered an audience of both vampires and breathers and held a public execution. I ordered the families of the traitors into exile. They would eventually die out or blend so much into society you could never recognize them."

"So you even though your siblings ruled on equal terms, you still made all the final decisions," Vlad stated.

"I didn't normally work like that. But in that situation I felt that I had the best judgment. I found out soon after that I had made a fatal error. The five of us who were left started to lose trust in one another. We were immortal after all. Nothing was going to last forever."

The Count chuckled, "Things haven't changed."

"No," said Draco. "They have gotten worse. I knew they would. Everyday I saw our family growing further and further apart. Even my children were becoming untrusting of me. Except one. My eldest. But I had to do something to insure our survival. So I came up with a plan. I met a sorcerous and she gave me a spell. She told me that when I cast it then I would choose who would receive ultimate power. It could be anyone in that time or in the future. Even myself."

"Seems sort of vague to me," Ingrid said. "How did you know you could trust her?"

"Because I knew who her family was. She was a descendant of the witch who placed the curse on my father that made him who he was. Though she cursed him, she still had a soft spot for him. She also did for me."

"Oh," was all Ingrid said. It still seemed sketchy to her.

"I knew already that I would be giving that power to a descendant of my eldest son, but everything was sensitive. I had to be sure I picked the right time and place. The sorcerous also gave me the power to look into the future. It would only last for a little while however and I would also have to make a deal. That deal would be that although a descendant of mine would become the most powerful vampire, that vampire would have to deal with a curse of his own."

" _Dimidius_ ," was all Vlad said.

"Right. Not only is a _Dimidius_ seen as an abomination, but also you would always be weakened by the human part of you unless you made the decision to let it go. But I can see now that isn't an option. For you to do so would turn you into a complete monster."

"So like he was when he attacked Ingrid?" Piers still had a bitter tone when saying that.

"Exactly. When the spell was cast and I was able to look into any point in the future I was in awe. I could barely understand what I was seeing. I then went in far enough where the humans had taken over. I went further and saw many vampires being killed by these humans. I decided that this would be the time period where the Chosen One should appear. I found what would be my family at that time. I found you Count Dracula. I was proud at first. It seemed that even when other vampires hid away, you were still a warrior. But I then saw that even you would fall. I decided that your son would be the one to receive the gift, which is also a curse. Seeing you still fighting through all that gave me hope that maybe your son would inherit some of your fighting spirit."

He looked at Vlad, "And I must say that I wasn't disappointed."

Vlad raised his eyebrow, "What?"

"You are so much of what your father used to be. You just don't realize it yet."

"I'm nothing like him," Vlad protested.

Draco smiled, "We'll see."

Vlad looked away.

"After I had made my decision, I cast the spell. I then wrote out a prophecy vaguely describing the existence of the Chosen One. I couldn't allow my siblings or any other future enemies to try to cause harm to my family or you. Keeping things simple seemed to be the best way to protect you, and also still give hope to those that needed it. I knew they would from what I saw."

"So what did you do after that?" Ingrid asked.

"I didn't want another war to begin and I didn't want to risk my son being killed before he had his own family. So I found a way to imprison them just like we did Sithius. Not all of them are in items like the _Immortalis Carcerem._ Some of them were locked away within hidden dungeons. I did show some favor to my eldest sister. I turned her into a horse so she could still be free. As far as I know, they are still all alive today. After I had assured everything was in place, I told my son what I was about to do. Once I trapped myself within the _Immortalis Carcerem,_ I had him place it in a specific location where I knew it would be found, but not for a long time. I hoped that someone would find it and I would eventually make my way to you," Draco pointed at Vlad. "But who knew you would be the one to actually find the thing?"

"So it was just pure dumb luck?" Ingrid said surprised.

Draco laughed, "It was. I'm also surprised I had found you while you were so young. At least this way I can be part of your training and prepare you for what is about to come."

"What's coming?" Vlad asked.

"I don't want to say much because I don't want to influence your decisions, but a war is coming. I can't tell you when it will be, or who all will be involved. But it's coming and you need to be ready for it."


	10. Chapter 10

This guy seemed so confident that Vlad was just going to roll with all of this. He agreed to help Draco because he promised to help protect Vlad's family. Clearly this guy had more in mind.

"So you promised to help me," Vlad began. "What are you getting out of all this?"

Draco looked him right in the eye and said, "Well I would hope you would remember me when you become king."

"King?" Ingrid laughed. "We don't have kings anymore. The vampires will accept a single ruler who has limits, the Grand High Vampire, but not a king."

Draco smiled, "And why do you think they wont accept it? Clearly what you have going now isn't working. Who is your leader now?"

Ingrid looked away, "Well no one at the moment. We have a council who performs the takes of the High Vampire until Vlad is ready. I'm on that council."

Draco laughed at her, "So really you have no solid leadership. No wonder things are the way they are. But as I said, I am not surprised."

Draco moved across the room to the fireplace, "I know what you all are thinking. You worry that I plan to take this family over. Let me put your minds at ease. I have no intention on causing any of you trouble. I'm here to provide guidance to not just Vladimir but for all of you." He looked directly at the Count, "You are head of this family. You will remain so. For these first couple of weeks I will simply observe you all. Watch how you go about your day and how you interact with each other. That is so I can learn more about you, this new time, and hopefully gain your trust. That is all I have to say to you all. I understand if you have more questions for me, but for now I am still weak and need to rest."

"Renfield!" the Count called.

Renfield stumbled into the throne room, "Yes master?"

"Show our guest to a coffin room."

"I will bring you a change of clothes," Ingrid said noticing Draco's old and torn robes.

"Thank you," Draco followed Renfield out the throne room.

"Well that was a bit uncomfortable," Piers said when the door closed. "He looked at me like I was his worst enemy."

"You're a breather," Ingrid explained. "He seemed like he didn't want to acknowledge you at all. Probably only did to make sure he stayed on our good side."

"Thanks," Piers said sounding offended.

"What are you thinking?" Vlad asked his father.

The Count stood up from his throne and walked over to them, "I think we need to keep an eye on him. Keep him here at the school. Whenever the sun sets, someone will always be with him."

"I will take the first shift," Ingrid volunteered. "I need to find him some clothes anyway."

"I'll come with you at least that first time," Vlad said. "I don't trust him at all."

"There are still cameras set up through out this house," Piers said. "I'll turn them on and watch him from my lab."

They all nodded in agreement. They then went to their own rooms to rest up.

Just before sunset Vlad met Ingrid in her room. Ingrid had some clothes out sorting through all of them. "Is this all dads stuff?" he asked.

"I had Renfield bring them over. Dad hasn't worn a lot of these in years. Draco looked about the same size so I'm going to have him try them on," Ingrid said.

Ingrid chose a set and headed for the door. She stopped and turned to her brother, "When he said that you were going to be a king, what did you think about that?"

Vlad shrugged, "I think he's a bit radical."

"But did you like the idea or not?"

Vlad frowned, "Why do you ask?"

"Just how things have been going lately. Was wondering what all has changed."

"Nothing. I still don't want to be any sort of ruler."

"Really?" Ingrid had a look that said she didn't believe him.

"You didn't mind it before when you loved breathers. You wanted to unite vampires and breathers."

"Because I saw a way to make it work," Vlad tried to walk to the door but Ingrid stopped him.

"So you don't want us to live peacefully with breathers anymore? I mean I guess I wouldn't be surprised since you killed a couple the past couple weeks."

"That was only to help Draco," Vlad was becoming annoyed.

"Oh so you're done killing. You going to go back to innocent Vlad?"

Vlad didn't answer.

"You know that was cute when you were younger Vlad, but now it's time to grow up and decide whose side you're on."

"I'm not on anyone's side. I just want you everyone to be safe."

"And your morals? It's ok to forget about them when one of us needs your help, and then pick them back up like nothing happened? It doesn't work like that, and stop acting like you don't enjoy killing. I saw that look in your eye after you killed the slayer."

Vlad rolled his eyes and opened the door, "Sun is setting and you need to give those to Draco."

Ingrid huffed in frustration, but dropped the conversation.

Ingrid handed him the set of clothes and Draco used his super speed to change into them.

"You seem to have recovered quickly," Ingrid said.

"I am getting there," he replied.

Vlad stood in the doorway watching him. Vlad wanted Draco to know how little he trusted him. They still had no idea what sort of powers he had. They couldn't take any chances with him.

Piers ran up next to Vlad, "I need to show you something. It's kind of important."

Vlad looked to Ingrid. "Go on," she said. "I can handle things."

Vlad followed Piers down the hall.

Ingrid turned to Draco. "Vladimir is smart," Draco said.

"Why?" Ingrid said. "Because he doesn't trust you?"

"Well yes, but he also set up a back up bodyguard for you."

Ingrid looked back to the door way and saw one of her half fangs standing there, "What are you doing here Jessica?"

"Vlad asked me to stand here and watch you," Jessica replied while staring at Draco. Ingrid decided to ignore her.

She faced Draco, "He's over protective is what he is."

"Is that a bad thing? You are his sister. He should always take care of you."

This was a little strange to Ingrid. No one in her family ever showed her this much respect. She started to wonder when it became a thing in her family to view women more as objects, "Vlad wasn't always like that."

Draco frowned. For the first time Ingrid noticed how much he actually looked like her father and brother. Same eyes. Same black hair. He even had similar facial expressions. I guess even if there were quite a few generations between them, some things still carried over.

"You want anything to eat?" Ingrid asked. "Or even some blood? We have plenty stored away."

"That would be wonderful. Thank you."

Ingrid led him out of the room and toward the throne room. She noted that Jessica was following them.

"So what's up?" Vlad asked when they entered the lab.

Piers sat at one of the computers and pulled up a video, "I got the cameras working while you all were asleep. Watch this and tell me what you think."

Piers pressed play and Vlad looked confused, "Is he talking to himself?"

"I'm not sure. He's speaking another language. Do you recognize it?"

Vlad shook his head, "It sounds familiar but not really. Sort of old."

"You didn't pick any of this up when you were studying old languages?"

"Not this. I only ever learned Aramaic and a bit of Latin," Vlad took over the controls and played the video back. Draco was holding the necklace while he spoke. Vlad forgot to take it back from him.

Piers must have noticed the same thing, "You think it might also be some sort of communication device?"

"It must be," Vlad said. "But who could he be talking to?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

"Can you use your computer to translate it?"

"Computers can do a lot of things, but if this guy is using a language that no longer exists, I won't be able to translate it."

Vlad sighed, "Brilliant."

"You know you could just ask him."

"Tell him that we were spying on him?"

"Well I don't think he would be surprised. But if you want to be more subtle, you could just ask him what language he spoke way back whenever he lived. Also, how he knows English. I was wondering that myself."

Vlad didn't want Draco to think he cared, but it looked like he would have to talk to him to get some answers. "Alright. I'll see what I can find out."

Piers smiled, "You know, maybe you should give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe everything he says is true."

"I know you are still a little new to all of this, but I never met a vampire without an ulterior motive."

Piers shrugged, "Well I'm only saying, it might be better if you at least pretend to trust him a little. You might get more out of him."

Vlad nodded, "Maybe you're right."


	11. Chapter 11

Vlad entered the throne room and sat down with Ingrid and Draco at the dining table. Ingrid was telling Draco about the High Council and her role in it, "I'm sort of organizer," she said. "It took them a while for them to finally let me speak there, but now they allow me to get a word in from time to time."

"How is it that you got on to the council?" Draco asked.

"I was nominated by one of the members to be a caterer and I eventually worked my way up from there."

Draco looked impressed, "What all have they discussed recently?"

"Mostly just money really. They only ever care about that and blood. Of course they want to keep the power they have as long as possible, so they put off anything that has to do with Vlad becoming Grand High Vampire."

"How have they managed to get away with that?"

"Vlad keeps quiet about it. So as long as he doesn't complain then they have no reason to do their job. There is only so much I can do."

Draco looked at Vlad disapprovingly. Vlad felt intimidated. He hated that feeling. Draco made him feel like he did something wrong without even saying anything.

"Well," Draco said, "I guess it doesn't matter either way. Vladimir isn't ready. You have a lot of training to do before you take over."

Vlad decided now would be a good time to change the subject, "So where are you from exactly?"

"Well when I say my father was the first vampire, I mean vampires like you and I. There were other types of vampires that lived in other areas, but they were a lot more animal-like and more recognizable. Our kind has the ability to blend in with society. Now as for where and when I'm from, I was born in the 7th century. We had a lot of influence back then."

"We still do in a way," Ingrid said. "Just not the way you would like."  
"What do you mean?"

"Pop culture. Breathers worship our kind in a way. A lot of them wish they were us. Yet almost all of them believe we don't exist."

Vlad didn't want to get off topic. He needed more information about Draco, "What language did you speak back then?"

Draco looked at him confused, "Slavonic."

"How do you know English?"

"I learned it from you."  
Vlad frowned, "what?"

"I searched your mind a little when you wore the _Carcerem_ _."_

Vlad looked worried.

Draco smiled, "I only took what information I needed. There was another language in there though. What was it?"

"Romanian. We lived there until I was 12."

Draco nodded in understanding, "Ingrid tells me you traveled a lot."

Vlad gave Ingrid an angry look, "I have this past year."

Vlad's phone then started to vibrate. He looked at it and saw that Talitha was calling him, "I have to answer this." He then left the room.

"What was that?" Draco asked.

"A phone," Ingrid replied. "You can talk to people on it."

Draco nodded but didn't quite understand it.

* * *

Vlad stood outside on the roof talking to Talitha on the phone.

"So what all have you figured out about the necklace?" Talitha asked.

Vlad hadn't thought much about what he would say to her, "A lot actually. We figured it all out."

"Really? That's great! So what is it?"

"It's actually a really long story. I'll tell you everything when I see you again. I will tell you that we have a new friend. At least I hope he's a friend."

"You really don't sound confident."

"I don't know. I guess we'll see what happens. I am sorry for not keeping in touch."

Talitha laughed, "Oh don't worry about it. I know you have a lot going on."

"How are things with your dad?"

"We're good. I'm actually done here if you want me to meet up with you."

Vlad turned around and saw Draco standing in the doorway. "You know what?" Vlad said to Talitha, "Why don't you meet me here at my sister's?" Vlad kept his eyes on Draco.

"I'll do that," you could hear her excitement in her voice.

"Don't be in a hurry though. Stay safe, and let me know when you are close."

"I will. I should be there the night after tomorrow. I want to spend the rest of tonight with my family."  
"That's fine. I have to go. I'll see you soon."

"Alright. I love you."

"Love you too," Vlad hung up the phone.

"Who was that you were talking to?" Draco asked.

"A friend," Vlad said a little too quickly.

"Sounds like more than a friend. She's coming here?"

"Yeah, I just rather have her around."

Draco nodded and stepped toward Vlad, "Well I do want to know whom all you associate with. I'll be happy to meet her."

Vlad laughed, "You seem so sure that I'm going to cooperate with you."

"Well you did agree to."

"I agreed to help you out of you prison if you taught me how I can protect my family. I never agreed to anything more than that."

"Trust me Vladimir," he smiled. "Once I help you with that one thing, you will want more. As I said, you are just like your father. Once you really see what you're capable of, you will beg me to teach you how to be a leader."

"I don't know why you believe that."

"You say you only want to protect your family. Your family is more than just those in this household. Your family is the entire vampire race. You have a responsibility to protect them because you have the ability to."

"That doesn't mean I'm power hungry."

"This training you will have will open your eyes to just how little you know. About yourself and the vampire race. You will see that even if you have power but no experience fighting, then you could still lose. That's why you will beg me for more. You will hate the feeling of being weak. You already hate it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"That look you gave me in the throne room after Ingrid told me about you not keeping in contact with the High Council? What was that about?"

Vlad rolled his eyes, "I just don't like how you think you're allowed to judge me."

"You see!" Draco yelled. "You see? You do care if someone looks down on you. If someone judges you. You want to prove them wrong don't you?"

Vlad was having a hard time keeping his cool, "I…"

"Admit it. You care a lot more than you want others to believe. You want people to respect you."

"Who doesn't?"

"Sure, but you have the power to make them respect you," Draco started circling Vlad.

"You're just trying to get a reaction out of me," Draco really was just throwing anything at Vlad whether it was true or not. He was studying him.

"Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you are telling the truth when you say all you want is to protect your loved ones. But do you realize how much safer they would be if vampires ruled this world? If you ruled this world? That is the best way to insure their safety right?"

Vlad wanted this conversation to be over, "I don't want to fight anyone. I'm happy the way things are."

"Really?" Draco didn't believe him.

"Vladimir, it's clear to me you aren't even sure what you want."

"How do you figure?" Vlad crossed his arms.

"You killed for the chance to protect your loved ones even though you were completely against it before. That says a lot." Draco headed for the door to go back inside, but then stopped, "You are very lost Vladimir, you have no idea who you are. I'm going to help you figure it out whether you want me to or not."

"Go ahead and try. And stop calling me Vladimir."

"That's your name," Draco replied.

"Only dad calls me that sometimes. I prefer Vlad."

"I'll tell you what, once you show me a little less attitude, I'll call you whatever you prefer."

Vlad frowned. He had never been so frustrated with anyone, and Draco had a lot of competition.

"I will continue to observe you all. Once I'm done, we'll begin training," Draco disappeared back inside.

* * *

 **So I wanted to explain something because I'm not sure if it was obvious or if I wrote it well enough. Vlad was right saying Draco was just saying anything just to get Vlad angry. Everything he said wasn't necessarily true. I made it all confusing deliberately so y'all could feel how Vlad does during the conversation. Confused and frustrated. Hopefully that helps. Please Review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**I meant to mention this in the previous chapter: I'm not 100% sure on the accuracy on the history that I included in this FanFic. I did about 20 minutes of research before writing it out. If there is any inaccuracies, please just try to overlook it for the sake of the story. If I'm far off then please let me know and I will correct it. Enjoy the new chapter!**

* * *

Vlad couldn't believe how much information Ingrid had given Draco. She normally did things like that when she was going to get something out of it. Vlad needed to confront her and find out what else she told Draco.

Vlad found Ingrid in her room painting her nails, "Why can't you keep your mouth shut? What did he promise you in exchange?"

Ingrid frowned, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes you do. You told Draco about the High Council. More information then he needed to know. What else do you tell him?"

Ingrid stood up, "Ok. I know it looks bad, but he didn't promise me anything."

"Then why did you even talk to him about the VHC?"

"I don't know. It just slipped out." For the first time in a while Ingrid had a look of worry. Vlad had a feeling she was being genuine.

"What all did you tell him?"

"He asked me about who all was on the Council and what I did for it. You walked in soon after that so you pretty much heard everything."

"Why did you answer him? You could have told him no to answering any questions."

"I don't know why I did. I just felt like I was supposed to. It's really hard to say no to him."

Vlad couldn't help but laugh a little, "You let him manipulate you."

"Hey I was caught of guard!" Ingrid's eyes turned red. "It won't happen again."

"Well I sure hope not. What happened to Jessica anyway? She was supposed to be watching Draco, but she wasn't in the throne room earlier."

Ingrid thought about it, "Oh, Draco set her away. I think she went to her room."

Vlad waited for her to think that through.

"Ok maybe I shouldn't have allowed that now that I think about it."

Vlad rolled his eyes, "We can't let him tell everyone what to do. He doesn't have any power over us."

"As much as I hate to say it, he sort of does."

"So what then? You going to side with him now?"

"Of course not, but Vlad he clearly has a lot of power. Look what damage he's done with just his words. You're riled up, Jessica is following his orders, and I'm confused and have a headache," Ingrid sat down and started rubbing her forehead.

"That's nothing," Vlad said.

"Vlad, it is something! He's intimidating, and when's that last time you saw someone manipulate me that way? When's the last time you let someone get to you this fast?"

"He doesn't bother me."

Ingrid laughed, "Same old Vlad. Always in denial."

"I'm not."

"Wake-up. If you can't see how much of a threat he is then he will take this family over. You need to take this seriously."

"I am!" Vlad argued.

"You never take anything seriously. You're irresponsible. Everything that has gone wrong is because you refuse to see things as they are and deal with them."

"You can't blame me for everything."

"No, a lot of it was dads fault, but you have to be just like him and…"

"I am nothing like dad!" Thunder rumbled outside.

Ingrid kept going, "Yes you are! You tried so hard to be different than him, but you failed!

"SHUT UP!" Every pit of glass in the room, including the window, exploded.

Ingrid looked around in shock, "I think you just proved my point."

Vlad calmed down, but didn't say anything else. The Count and Draco appeared in the doorway.

"What happened?" Draco asked.

"I told Vlad that he's a lot like dad," Ingrid replied.

The Count looked around the room, "Is it that really a bad thing?"

Draco sighed, "I believe we need to have a house meeting."

"Think I'll pass," Vlad said.

"If you want information about your mother and sister, then you will join us."

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll have to come to the meeting to find out."

* * *

Vlad hated this. He hated Draco. He regretted helping free him from the necklace. All Vlad got from it was just another old vamp to boss him around. He was so sick of all of this.

Everyone gathered in the throne room for the meeting. Even Renfield and Jessica who stood against the wall while everyone else sat at the table. Draco and the Count sat at the ends of the table while Vlad, Ingrid and Piers sat at the sides. As always, Piers had his laptop with him.

"Now first, I located your human family."

Vlad started to say something but Draco held his finger up to keep him quiet. "Let me finish," he said. "I told the breather here to check in on everything to see if they were ok."

"Why would you do that?" Vlad asked.

Draco gave him an evil look, "I told you that I would, and I also told you to keep quiet."

Vlad rolled his eyes. Vlad didn't overlook that it seemed Piers was now helping him too. Of course he was human so he had more of an excuse since Draco could just threaten to kill him.

"Explain to him what you found," Draco told Piers. "I still don't understand everything about this time period.

Piers turned his laptop around where everyone could see, "This is where Vlad's mom and sister lives." He pointed to a satellite image. "I looked into both the VHC's database as well as the Slayers Guild. The VHC was clean. But when I hacked into the Guild, well..." Piers closed the map to reveal all sorts of files about Sally and Georgina Giles. There were also files on Vlad and his father.

Vlad had no idea how he should feel about all this. He was angry, confused, and worried all at once.

"They know about Vlad being half-breather," Piers continued. "I already read through a lot of this. I really don't know how they got this information, but I do know they haven't approached your mother yet. At least their records don't show it, but there is a heavy presence of slayers in the area."

"You may speak now Vladimir," Draco said.

Everyone was staring at him, "I don't know what to say."

"They are safe. That's the important thing. I've already been working on a plan to get them out of there."

Vlad looked up, "What are you planning to do exactly?"

"Well first we are going to go get them. After we will bring them here and decide what to do next."

Vlad wasn't sure how to take all of this. Not only that the slayers knew about his mother, but also that Draco was actually keeping his word. Vlad just didn't expect him to at this point.

"The sun will rise soon so I suggest we all get some rest. We will prepare a plan and leave early after sunset."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Even Vlad.

"One more issue before you all leave," he looked directly at Vlad. "I'm sorry I have put you through a lot of mental stress, but understand that I'm only trying to get through to you. I don't want you to hate me. I'm not your enemy. All I want to do is help."

Everyone stayed silent.

Vlad was first to speak up, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

* * *

 **I want to say thank Nogitsune11 for reviewing. Thank you HeathenVampire, kittycat1810, and .5682 for favoriting. And I want to especially thank Becky4Ever1996. She reads everything I write and has been a friend of mine on here for a while now. If you haven't already, you should check out her fanfic. She's written for Young Dracula as well as for Pokemon and Harry Potter. If you are a fan of any of those, you should enjoy her stories.  
**


	13. Chapter 13

After everyone had rested up, they gathered in the throne room to hear Draco's plan. Vlad still didn't trust him at all, but he had to work with him. What he said last night was so off from the way he talked to Vlad before. It's very rare for a vampire to apologize for anything. Of course Draco may have realized it was better to keep Vlad happy and hope he would be more willing to listen, but Vlad needed to focus right now.

"Only three of us will go," Draco began. "Vladimir, myself, and the breather. This is how things will be done. We will ride in your wagon and you take us to about a mile from the home."

Piers looked at him funny, "You mean the van."

Draco ignored him, "Vladimir and I will get out and you he will enter the home. I will keep a look out for slayers and the breather will use his whatever resources to keep track of the slayers whereabouts."

"Mom and George are hypnotized," Vlad said. "They don't remember me. How to get them to invite me in?"

"I'm sure you will think of something," Draco said.

"Is there anything we can do here?" Ingrid asked.

"I have to monitor all the slayers stuff so I'll set up the trackers here as well as a radio so you can also hear what's going on. Just in case there's trouble and back up is needed," Piers said.

"Alright," Draco said. "Gather anything you might need. The three of us will meet in the courtyard when ready."

* * *

Vlad, Piers and Ingrid went to the lab. Piers packed his backpack with his laptop in a few other tech things.

"I wish he would stop calling me "breather", Piers complained. "I have a name."

"I'll talk to him about that later," Ingrid said.

Piers sat down in front of a computer, "I'm setting up the tracking software. You still have the tracking wristband I gave you Vlad?"

Vlad disappeared and came back, "Got it."

"Good. Ingrid, "This is all very easy. Just wear this headset and keep your eyes on the monitor to see where we are. I already set it up to track Vlad, Draco and the van."

Ingrid nodded and put the headset on, "You guys be careful." She then gave Piers a kiss.

* * *

Piers and Vlad met Draco out in the courtyard. Piers loaded a few things into the van. He then gave Draco a tracking band like Vlad's.

"This is how I will know where you are," Piers said.

Draco looked reluctant to put it on, but still agreed to wear it.

"Let's go then," Draco said.

As Piers drove he had a GPS set up. Every once in a while a red dot would appear. "What does that mean?" Vlad asked.

"Those are slayers vehicles. They have specific tech that I can pick up on here," Piers explain.

So far three have shown up on the GPS. "There really that many around here?" Vlad asked. They were still an hour out from his mother's.

"I don't think you realize how many slayers there are. From what I can tell, they have been recruiting a lot over the past couple years. There are probably just as much slayers as there are vampires now."

Vlad thought about this. Somehow all of that didn't make Vlad comfortable. Of course Vlad has always had a shaky relationship with the Guild. He was still friends with Johno, but he hadn't talked to him in a while. Now that the slayers know about Vlad being half-human, he probably should contact him.

They all stayed silent through the rest of the trip. When they got close Piers found a place to park the van and they all got out. Vlad looked around to see if he could sense any slayers near by. He did but not too close that they should worry about them.

Piers opened the back of the van and climbed in. He set up his laptop and started plugging stuff in. He then handed Vlad and Draco earpieces. Vlad had to show Draco how it worked.

"Why don't we just use telepathy?" Draco asked.

"Because Piers can't talk to us and this is a lot more efficient," Vlad said.

Piers turned everything on and spoke into his headset, "Ingrid can you hear me?"

"I can," her voice went through the earpieces as well.

"Standby and wait for instructions," Piers said.

"I will go with you to the home," Draco told Vlad. "When we get there I will stay hidden. Do whatever you need to do to convince your family to come with you. Do not take more than a couple minutes."

Vlad nodded, "I'll try."

Vlad and Draco flew off and Piers shut the doors to the van to keep himself hidden.

* * *

Vlad and Draco arrived in the neighborhood and found the home.

"Stay alert," was all Draco said before he flew away.

Vlad let out a sighed and rang the doorbell. He would either have to get his mom outside or convince her to let him in. Then he could make her remember. Until that happens though, her home would protect her from him being able to do anything.

Vlad got lucky. George was the one who opened the door. She would be a lot easier to talk to.

"Hi," George said. "Can I help you?"

"Is your mom here? I'm here to help her with an art project."

"Yeah sure. Come in. I'll get her."

That was extremely easy. It really worried Vlad how welcoming his family was.

Vlad stepped inside and looked around. The home was filled with all sorts of art projects and supplies.

"Mom!" George called. "Someone is here to see you!"

His mom walked into the foyer wiping her hands with a towel. She was wearing a painter's coat and had a little paint on her face. George went upstairs.

"Can I help you?" his mother asked. Vlad really had no time to talk. He looked into her eyes. He hoped his powers would work for him if he were actually breaking the hypnosis placed on her. The rules really didn't make sense half the time.

He looked into his mother's eyes and she seemed to go into a blank expression. "Awaken and remember," was all Vlad said.

Sally blinked a couple times. She looked shocked for a second and dropped the towel. She suddenly wrapped her arms around Vlad's neck. She then kissed him on the cheek, "I thought I would never see you again."

Vlad was a little surprised by her reaction, "There's a reason I'm here. You and George aren't safe. The slayers are watching you and I have no idea what they are planning."

"What do we then?" Sally asked.

"We're taking you back to Garside. We'll explain more then."

"We?"

"Friends. One you don't know but please just ignore him."

Sally nodded, "Let me get a few things and let George know."

She headed for the stairs, but stopped and turned around, "Don't tell George about all of this. I rather she not remember anything just yet."

Vlad nodded, "What are you going to tell her then?"

"Only what she needs to know," she continued on upstairs.

"Vlad there are slayers approaching!" Piers said.

"I see them," Draco replied. "They're pulling up to the house. Don't let anyone answer the door. Go out that back."

Vlad tried to stay calm, "Piers, can you meet us close by?"

"Already on my way," he said.

Vlad pulled the curtain to see outside. There were three. All in full armor and guns in hand. They knew he was here. Three wasn't bad, but it wouldn't be long before more showed up.

Vlad sped upstairs and found his mom and George packing, "We have to go now. There's trouble."

George looked at her mom, "Mom, what's going on?"

"We'll explain later, hon. Let's go."

The doorbell rang.

"We have to avoid them," Vlad said. "Come on."

Vlad led them downstairs and avoided making any noise. The doorbell continued to ring, "Ms. Giles?" One of the slayer spoke from outside. "We need to speak with you urgently.

Sally stopped Vlad, "You go ahead and take George. I'm going to distract them and give you time."

"You're the one that I'm trying to keep them from," Vlad protested.

"I'll be fine. Just keep my daughter safe."

Vlad was frustrated, but he clearly wasn't going to be able to convince her otherwise, "Fine."

Vlad hurried George out the back. When they got out there they were unlucky enough to run into one of the slayers. The slayer aimed his gun at Vlad. Vlad held his hand up ready to counter, but Draco appeared and knocked the slayers out.

"Thanks," Vlad said.

"What's happening?" George asked. "Mom said you were our friend? Why are there people pointing guns at you? Where did he come from?" George pointed at Draco. All of this was stressing George out. She was on the brink of crying.

Vlad promised he wouldn't tell George anything yet, "Hypnotize her to sleep. She can't handle this."

Draco agreed and put her to sleep.

Vlad picked her up and carried her on his back.

* * *

Back in the house Sally was talking to two of the slayers, "I really have no idea what you're talking about. No one is here other than myself and daughter."

"I'm sorry ma'am, but we know your son is here as well. We need to speak to him."

"I don't have son," Sally was pretty good at lying. She had a lot of practice from when she was a teenager.

A man approached from behind the slayers, "Hey!"

The slayers turned to face him, "You guys looking for someone?"

Sally recognized him from before. Her memory was still coming back to her so she couldn't quite remember his name.

"Stay out of this civilian," one slayer said.

The man laughed, "I'm sorry but I can't." He then pulled out a gun and shot at both the slayers. They both collapsed on the ground. Sally looked horrified.

"Don't worry," Piers said seeing her face. "This only stuns them enough to knock them out. They'll be fine."

Sally stepped over the slayers and ran with Piers toward the van.

All five of them met and Sally started to freak out seeing her daughter on Vlad's back.

"She's fine," Vlad explain. "She saw a lot happen and started to get upset, so we just put her to sleep."

Vlad placed her in the back and her mother got in beside her. An alarm started going off from the GPS.

"What is that?" Draco asked.

Piers checked the monitor, "There are five vans heading this way from different directions. We're trapped. There isn't a road I can take that I can avoid them."

Ingrid got on the radio, "Do you need me to be there?"

Piers was about to answer, but Vlad interrupted, "Yes, Ingrid. Get here as soon as you can."

"I'm on my way."

Vlad didn't want anything to happen to his mother and sister, "All of you get in the van. Head straight on this street. I'll clear the path."

"I'm coming with you," Draco said.

"No," Vlad said. "I need you to stay with them. I don't want anything to happen to them."

"Vlad you…" Draco started, but Vlad cut him off.

"Please do this for me. If you do I promise I will do whatever you ask. I just can't let anything happen to them.

Draco didn't want to listen, but agreed anyway, "Don't pick a fight. Do what you have to do to meet up with us. Keep in contact."

Vlad nodded and Draco got in the van. They drove off and Vlad followed close by.

As Piers drove Sally held her daughter. All of them stayed quite. That's when they saw a pair of headlights approaching. Piers tensed up and his heart started to race. Another van appeared from behind the other and got into Piers' lane. That confirmed that they were the slayers.

Piers didn't slow down. Hopefully Vlad will be able to clear the road before a collision happened. As they got closer the radio started to put out static.

"Shit!" Piers yelled.

"What's happened?" Draco asked.

"The slayers are jamming the signal. We wont be able to talk to Vlad."

Draco tried his earpiece but suddenly a sharp sound came from it. He yelled and threw the earpiece on the floor.

Piers panicked and started to slow down. That's when a flash of light hit between the two slayer vans. The vans were knocked off the road. Piers hit the gas and hurried past them. Piers saw in his review mirror one van tried to follow but another flash of lighting hit.

* * *

The 4 slayers got out a little dazed. They pointed their guns around trying to find the one that attacked them. Vlad knew that he could probably just leave now and they wouldn't see him, but Vlad couldn't let this go. He had to get information on how the slayers knew about him. He also wanted to send them a message. He didn't want them going after his family again.

He threw another bolt of lightning at the slayers feet and they went flying. Vlad appeared about 10ft in front of them. One slayer pointed his gun but Vlad snapped his fingers and it flew out of his hand.

"Why are you here? Why do you need Sally Giles?"

The slayers didn't answer. A couple of them were knocked out. The other two didn't want to answer.

When they didn't, Vlad was about to throw more lightning, but a motorcycle pulled up. Vlad recognized the man on the bike's scent.

The man got off, "Vlad wait!" He removed his helmet.

"Johnothan?"


	14. Chapter 14

Piers found a place to park the van while he tried to get the radio working again and contact Vlad. Draco stood behind him waiting impatiently.

"He should have met up with us by now," Draco said. "Where is he?"

Piers rolled his eyes, "I'm trying to figure that out. The slayers knocked out all my equipment."

"Fix it!" Draco demanded.

Piers turned to look at him, "What do you think I'm doing?"

Draco hissed at him and Piers turned back around to continue working.

In the back seat, George was waking up. Her mother moved her hair out of her face. George started to panic but her mom calmed her down, "Don't worry. We're ok. Piers is just trying to contact his friend."

George looked confused, "What's happening mom? Who are these people? Where are they taking us?"

"They are just trying help," Sally explained, "Everything will be ok."

They then heard a swoosh outside and a new voice. It was a female.

"Stay here," Sally said as she went to investigate.

"What's going on?" It was Vlad's sister, Sally remembered. What was her name again?  
"We're trying to find Vlad," Piers explained. "Something happened to my equipment."

"Well mine is fine," Ingrid showed her tracking band. "I'll find him."

Piers put his hands on her shoulders, "Be safe. There are slayers all over."

Ingrid smiled, "I'll be fine."

"You're Ingrid right?" Sally stepped forward.

Ingrid looked a little surprised, "You remember?"

Sally nodded, "Make sure he's ok. I don't want him to get hurt because of us." She looked very worried.

"I'm sure he's fine," Ingrid reassured her. "He's strong."

Sally shook her head but didn't look any better.

Ingrid looked at Draco, "You coming with me?"

"No," he replied. "Vlad asked that I stayed here with his family."

Ingrid wanted to ask why Draco listened to Vlad, but she didn't want to waste anymore time. "You all go on. Vlad and I will meet you at the school."

* * *

"Jonathan?" Vlad was surprised to see his old friend.

"Vlad you can relax. We are just trying to help."

"By shooting at me?"

Jonathan stepped towards him, "They aren't UV guns. All they do is stun you so you wouldn't fly off."

Vlad was confused, "How are you helping?"

Jonathan looked at his team, "We know about you. That you're half-human. We thought maybe we could help you."

Vlad laughed, "I didn't ask for it, and why target my mother?"

"We weren't targeting her," Jonno explained. "We were just finding out what she knew. We had no intention in taking her anywhere or doing her any harm. If anything, we were protecting her."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"We tried to contact you, but we were told you left Garside a while ago. We had no way of finding you. When we tried to ask your sister, she refused to give any information."

Vlad had no reason to not believe him. He had never lied to him before. But Vlad didn't trust the rest of the Guild.

"I don't want your help," Vlad said. "I'm fine. Stop spying on my family. Not many know about this. I don't want my family put in danger."

Ingrid appeared next to Vlad. Jonathan flinched. He still wasn't used to vampires speeding in and out.

"Everything ok here?" Ingrid looked around.

"Everything's fine," Vlad replied. "Let's go."

Vlad turned to leave but heard a click. One of the slayers had gotten ahold of a weapon.

Jonathan saw the slayer aiming for Vlad, "Stop!"

The slayer fired. Vlad pushed Ingrid out of the way. The slayer shot again and was able to hit Vlad in the arm. Vlad fell over and realized he couldn't feel his left arm.

Jonathan tried to stop the slayer. He stepped in front of him and tried to take his weapon, "I'm calling this mission off."

"We can't let him get away," the slayer protested.

Vlad got to Ingrid and they flew away.

* * *

Vlad and Ingrid arrived at Garside just as the van was pulling in. Vlad was holding his arm.

"Are you ok?" Ingrid asked.

"I'll be fine. It doesn't hurt."

"Maybe Renfield has an antidote."

Vlad cringed at the thought of getting any sort of help from Renfield.

Sally got out of the van and was relieved to see he was ok.

Draco went over and got in Vlad's face, "What happened?"

Vlad frowned, "Nothing. I just…"

"I told you to meet up with us immediately!" Draco's eyes glowed red

"I had to get some answers. They aren't going to bother us anymore."

"How can you be sure?"

"A friend of mine is part of the Guild. He assured me that he was only trying to help and he's going to back off."

Draco laughed, "You can't trust any of them."

Vlad opened to his mouth to protest but Draco just cut him off, "You made a promise to me. Go inside and take care of your arm. We'll talk more about this later."

Vlad was already regretting agreeing to listen to Draco. He was so unpredictable. Ingrid put her hand on Vlad's shoulder and led him inside.

They found Renfield and he took them down to the kitchen. Renfield started working on a potion for Vlad.

"You ok?" Ingrid asked.

"I told you I'm fine," Vlad said.

"I don't mean your arm. Draco is really getting to you and stressing you out."

Vlad sighed, "I made a deal with him."

"What?"

"I told him I would do as he says."

"Why?"

"I needed him to stay and protect my mom."

"That is not a fair deal."

"I know!" Vlad yelled, "I just said it."

"Well take it back. You don't have to keep your word all the time."

Vlad shook his head, "Yes I do."

Ingrid never could understand her brother. He never made sense.

Renfield brought over a cup with green liquid inside.

"What's in it?" Vlad asked.

"Best you don't know," Renfield replied.

Vlad quickly drank it and coughed. It was disgusting, but feeling was already coming back to his arm. Everything Renfield made was disgusting, but at least it never failed to do the job.

"It will take a while to recover completely," Renfield said. "But you heal faster than most so you should be back to normal in a few hours."  
Vlad thanked Renfield and they went upstairs to join everyone else in the throne room.

Sally and George sat on one of the couches by the fireplace. As soon as Vlad walked in George got up and ran to Vlad to give him a hug. Vlad pulled her off after a few seconds, "You remember me?"

George pointed to Draco, "He helped me remember."

Vlad looked at Draco. "She was still stressed," Draco said. "Your mother said it was alright.

Vlad went over to sit next to his mom. She hugged him again, "I'm so glad to see you are alright. I thought I wouldn't ever see you again."

Vlad shrugged, "Neither did I."

"Sorry to cut off this family reunion," The Count stood by the fireplace. "But we do need to figure out our next step.

"I agree," Draco said. "But first, why don't you get your family settled in Vladimir. They need rest. We'll talk more in a little while."

Vlad agreed and led Sally and George to the room they stayed in last time they were there.

"Who is that guy?" George asked.

Vlad thought about what to say, "He's my grandfather."

"No offense, but he seems kind of strict."

Vlad laughed, "You have no idea."

"So how long are we staying here?"

Sally hugged her daughter, "I'm not sure, but we will figure things out soon."

Vlad nodded, "Till then this is your home, so you are welcome to do what you want but try to not upset Draco."

"I guess that's your grandfathers name," George said.

"Vlad?" Sally asked. "Can I talk to you for a moment."

"Sure," They walked out of the room.

Sally sighed, "Please don't keep anything from me. I want to help you in anyway I can. If you have time later, I would like for us to talk."

Vlad really wanted to spend time with his mother, but he didn't want to tell her that he had been killing breathers. He doesn't plan on killing anymore, but he sure didn't want his mother to worry about it.

"Ok," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow night."

Sally smiled, "Goodnight." She walked into the room and closed the door.

"Goodnight," he said to himself.


	15. Chapter 15

**So... I completely forgot that I had written 3 chapters of this and never uploaded them. Sorry about that.**

* * *

Vlad entered the throne room to find everyone was gone except Draco who was sitting by the fireplace.

"Where is everyone?" He asked.

"The breather went to sleep and I told the others to go hunting."

Vlad was sick of this guy giving orders. He has been here a day and already taking over this family. He promised he wouldn't interfere yet he has everyone doing as he says.

"I wanted the chance to talk to you one on one," Draco said.

Vlad didn't say anything as he moved to sit opposite of Draco.

"Clearly you don't trust me. That's good. You should never trust anyone.," Draco began. "You at least have that lesson learned already. You also recognize your vampire instincts, but still have little control over them."

"You can't…" Vlad started but was interrupted when Draco raised a finger.

"You have this care for humans that I have yet to understand fully. You continuously suppress your instincts. You are scared of them and as a result you aren't even close to fully comprehending your own power."

"You're making a huge assumption," Vlad was trying to stay calm. He couldn't let this guy get to him again.

"Really? When is the last time you tested your power? Tried to expand on what you already know?"

"I've been busy."

"Doing what? Trying to convince yourself you aren't a bloodthirsty monster? Looking for a quiet life where you don't have to worry about politics or war? Unfortunately that is not the life that was meant for you."

"How come I don't get to make that choice? Why is it that you get to make a decision thousands of years ago and I'm obligated to stick with it?"

"And if you had to make the choice right now what would it be?" Draco said. "Would you choose to stay with your family and fight for them or would you run away with that girl and forget about them?"

"I can protect my family and still live my own life."

"You already proved you couldn't. The minute I offered protection you quickly threw away your morals. You decided they were more important than a human life. You barely gave it a second thought. You already made the decision."

Vlad stayed silent. He realized he couldn't argue with him.

"Why is it you want to protect breathers anyway?"

Vlad used to be able to answer that no problem. Now he wasn't so sure.

"I'm human. Half human anyway. My mom and sister are human. I have friends who are human," was the best answer he could come up with.

Draco's face softened a little, "You do realize things are not so black and white? There is evil in humans too. Many see us as their enemy. You do not just need to protect your family from vampires. You need to protect them from humans too."

Vlad looked Draco in the eye. Vlad didn't want to admit it just yet, but maybe Draco had a point. Still…

"I don't want to hurt anyone," Vlad said.

"That is something you are going to have to get over. That is your human side. You have learned to use those instincts. You just need to learn to balance your human side and your vampire side. Once you do that you will finally understand yourself. It's going to take some time though."

Vlad had no idea what to do. He didn't trust Draco at all, but right now he seems completely genuine. He appears to really want to help him. Why though? What does he really have to gain from this?

Vlad decided he needed some time to think this through, "I'm going to rest for a bit and think about it."

Draco smiled, "Of course. You have dealt with a lot the past few days. Just don't take too long to think on it."

Vlad spent the rest of the night out on the roof. It was peaceful and quiet there. Draco was right. He had dealt with a lot this past week. He had actually been dealing with a particular issue this past year. He really had no idea what he wanted anymore. He thought once he had learned that he was half-human everything would make sense. It should. But now he feels even more lost.

Draco had said he needed to learn how to balance both sides. He had no idea how to do that, but maybe Draco could help him. How though? He couldn't really understand. No one really could. One side of him is always fighting the other. To Vlad it had always been between good and evil. Now he's realizing it might not be that simple.

Vlad had no idea what he wanted out of his life anymore. He had always been the adventurous type. He loved travelling, but that wasn't enough anymore. He wanted more and he always figured that was his darker side influencing him. Maybe that is just it though. Maybe Vlad was evil all along and he was just denying it. But that still didn't make any sense. How could you want to be good and evil? You can't. You can't want to protect humans but also want to cause them harm.

Sometimes Vlad had wished he were just born either full Vampire or full human. Then he would never have to deal with any of this.

Vlad then heard footsteps nearby. Vlad looked down and saw George out in the courtyard. It was 4AM. Why was she up so early?

Vlad flew down and landed a few feet behind her.

"What are you doing?" Vlad said.

George jumped, "Vlad! Sorry. I couldn't sleep last night and I had been walking around exploring."

"It's still dark. You should probably just stay inside."

"Nothing is going to happen. You wouldn't let anything happen to me."

Vlad chuckled, "I wouldn't, but you still need to be cautious."

George shrugged her shoulders and walked back toward the door. Vlad followed and they ended up in the throne room. No one was there.

George sat down on the couch and pulled her knees to her chest.

"You should probably try and get at least a couple hours of sleep," Vlad said,

"I'm fine."

Vlad sighed and sat down next to her, "What's going on?"

George looked up at him, "Are we in danger again?"

Vlad smiled, "Not necessarily. Things just seem a little off right now and we just want to be careful."

George frowned, "What do you mean "off"?"

Vlad decided to be a little more straightforward, "The Slayer's Guild knows I'm half-human and they know you are my sister. We don't know what they plan on doing with that information so until we are sure there is no danger we would like for you to stay here."

She seemed to be a little more satisfied with that, "Well alright then. So as long as we can still have some fun while here. We can hangout and play video games or something."

Vlad smiled, "Of course. Just no more walks at night by yourself. I don't want you getting hurt."

George yawned, "I think I'm going to try and sleep again. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Vlad said as she walked out of the room.

Vlad was at least sure about one thing. He had to keep his family safe. Whatever it took.


	16. Chapter 16

Vlad had gone to sleep just as the sun set. When he awoke he was relived to find that he hadn't dreamed at all. He had enough of those anyway. He could go his whole life without them.

Talitha would be visiting tonight and he had a lot to tell her. He wanted to talk to her about what Draco had said to him last night. Hopefully she would help him make sense of everything.

After he had gotten dressed Vlad made his way to the throne room. Everyone was there except one.

"Where's Draco?" He asked.

"He hasn't woken up yet," the Count replied.

Vlad sat down with the others at the table and ate breakfast

"Talitha is coming to visit for a bit," he announced.

"Your hippie girlfriend?" Ingrid groaned. "Why?"

"Because she wants to," Vlad rolled his eyes.

"You've invited enough guests here. No more," she said.

"She's coming to help."

"I said no!"

Piers held Ingrid's hand. "It's fine," he said. "She won't stay long."

Ingrid just rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

Vlad appreciated that there was finally someone around that Ingrid listened to.

"When will she be here?" George asked.

"Couple hours maybe," Vlad said.

"Then we should talk before she gets here," Piers said,

Vlad looked at him confused.

"Can we talk in the lab?" Piers asked.

Vlad nodded and followed him there.

As soon as they closed the door behind them Piers spoke.

"I heard the conversation between you and Draco last night."

"How?" Vlad asked

"Cameras are still on and I was watching Draco," he explained. "What is going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't sound very sure of anything you said to him last night. Like you're having second thoughts."

"About what?"

"Everything! I don't care what you do to be honest. But this doesn't seem like you to be questioning yourself.

"You barely know me! And who said I was questioning myself?"

"Ingrid has told me enough stories about you. The Vlad I had heard about would never think of hurting another person, but since this all started you seem very opened to exceptions."

"I don't know. I guess I see Draco's point."

"You don't go from being a peacekeeper to a murder with one argument from a guy who was imprisoned in a piece of jewelry for thousands of years."

Vlad was starting to get angry, "Maybe it wasn't just from one argument. Maybe I've actually been thinking of this for a while."

Piers sighed, "You've been thinking about becoming a murder? Since when and why?"

"Stop saying murderer! And why do you care? You are dating someone who is a very proud vampire."

"I told you. I don't care what you do. All of humanity can go to hell for all I care. I just want to make sure you aren't going to hurt the people I know you care for. That you aren't going crazy."

"Just because I'm thinking of other options doesn't mean I'm going crazy!" Vlad's eyes were glowing red now.

"Don't get angry with me. I'm trying to help."

Vlad knew that, but at the same time Piers was making a huge assumption. He had no right to talk to him that way. A breather shouldn't ever talk to him that way!

Vlad lost it for a second put his hand to Piers chest. He sent a jolt of electricity through him and Piers was instantly on his knees.

Vlad snapped out of it, but a bit late.

Vlad held Piers up, "Are you ok?"

Piers managed to speak, "Yeah sure. I'm used to a thousand volts going through my body."

Vlad helped him to a chair to relax.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I did that."

"I'm fine. I just need a minute."

Vlad stepped back and looked down ashamed. He shouldn't have done that. That could have been really bad.

Piers reached over to one of his computers and attacked a strap to his arm. Probably checking to make sure Vlad hadn't paralyzed him.

"I really am sorry."

"You can stop apologizing. I'm dating your sister. I know how temperamental you vampires can get. I should have shut my mouth as soon as I noticed you were about to lose it."

"Yeah…", was all Vlad could say.

"Still," Piers said. "What was it that made you angry exactly. What was it that I said that you felt the need to hurt me?"

Vlad shrugged, "I just didn't like how you were talking to me, but I'm still a bit frustrated so can we just stop talking about this."

"Alright. I'm just trying to help. If you know a better way of going about it let me know."

"I rather you didn't psychoanalyze me. I appreciate what you've done, but I think it's best if we just stick to the tech stuff."

Piers looked surprised, "Ok. But you need to talk to someone rather than Draco."

"Why do you think Talitha is coming?"

Talitha arrive about 11PM. She knocked on the door and Renfield showed her in. He led her to Vlad who was with George in his room playing video games. As soon as Talitha walked in Vlad stood up to welcome her.

"Glad you finally made it," he said. "How was your family?"

"They're fine, but we probably should talk about the necklace first."

"Right. George you should head on to your room."

George didn't argue as she hugged her brother goodnight and walked out.

"So," Talitha began. "What all did I miss?"

Vlad told her everything from the time they separated to now. How the necklace belonged to Draco and how he decided to help him escape the necklace. She also told her about their most recent discussion. Talitha seemed most interested in that last bit.

"Vlad this isn't like you at all. Are you sure he isn't manipulating you?"

"I don't think he is. He hasn't done anything that would tell me he was. He just asks a lot of questions."

"So you are thinking of becoming a murderer?"

"Why does everyone keep saying that word?"

"But that is what you are saying."

"I don't want to be a murderer!" Vlad was starting to get angry again but took a breath to calm down. "I just want to protect the people I care about."

"But your family is fine. Why do you think you need to protect them now?"

Vlad was silent for a moment. He sat down on the couch and took a moment to relax.

Talitha sat next to him and held his hand, "What's wrong?"

"There have been many close calls in the past. Sure things are ok now, but when I thought my mother and sister were ok I found out the slayers were watching them. That didn't exactly make me feel good."

"But nothing happened, and you said Johno ordered them to back off," Talitha argued.

"But when bad things happen it's because of me. I could just disappear, but I don't think I could live without any of you. I guess that would be my human side talking but I need you all."

Talitha thought for a moment, "Maybe you should worry about that when the time comes. Acting on anything now would provoke potential enemies. Till then you should live the life you want."

"Maybe," Vlad looked down.

"Unless that isn't the only reason this has crossed your mind," Talitha frowned.

"It's not like that."

"You want to be Grand High Vampire don't you!"

"Of course not!"

"It makes sense though. You like being a leader and your life now isn't letting you be one."

"Where is this coming from?"

"I've travelled with you a lot over these past few months. I know you better than you think. You have a lot of your father in you."

"I'm not talking about this anymore."

"But you need to. If you had to make the choice now what would you pick?"

"Pick between what?"

"Being a leader or…" Talitha hesitated.

"Or what?"

"Me."


	17. Chapter 17

**I hate this chapter. I really do. This is the reason why I was stuck for a while. I tired rewriting it, but still don't like it XD We never really got too much of Talitha's back story so I didn't know how to write her character. This is my best shot.**

* * *

"What are you talking about?" Vlad was shocked. "You would leave?"

"I don't want to," Talitha hugged him. "But that life isn't for me."

Talitha was always so sweet Vlad forgot she was a vampire too and could be manipulative herself.

"What would me choosing you mean?" Vlad asked.

"You packing your things and we continue traveling. You don't have to worry about politics or war, and you can check in on your family whenever."

Vlad pulled her off of him, "I don't think it's that simple anymore."

"Why do you believe that? Nothing has changed over this past year for you to suddenly think you have to choose a different path."

"I've been thinking about this for a while. Since my 18th birthday. I don't regret spending time with you, but I can't be away from my family anymore. It doesn't feel right."

Talitha's eyes glowed red, which rarely happened, "And you want to harm those who would dare look at them the wrong way."

"Will you stop being dramatic?"

"I'm sorry! It's just you aren't making any sense."  
"I know. I'm still trying to figure this out and I need you to help me with that."

Talitha chuckled, "I won't help you justify murder."

"That is not what I'm asking!"

"Yes it is! Want me to break it down for you?! Since the day you turned 18 you gained more power! More power that you can't really use on anything or anyone! You want to though! Sure you want to protect your family, but you also want to prove yourself! You want to show the rest of the world what you are capable of and then take control! You have always wanted that! You just don't want to admit it and the sooner you do the better!"

"Where is all this coming from?" Vlad frowned.

Talitha looked done and took a useless breath.

"I just noticed things. I love to figure people out. And you were so interesting when we first met. But even then I knew that you were always lying to yourself. I…"

"Stop!" Vlad cut her off. "Do not start this. All of you think I don't know who I am."

"Well do you?" Talitha looked him right in the eye.

"If you know yourself so well then answer this right now. Do you want to continue living the life you have been? With me? Or would you rather get back into this mess?"

"I don't know that yet. That's why I needed to talk to you."

"If you can't answer then it says enough about where this is going to go."

"How can you expect me to just know the answer right now?"

"Because you have been thinking about this for so long. Not just this past year. You have been thinking about everything since you were a child."

"You are telling me I should have all the answers then?"

"No," Talitha looked Vlad right in the eye. "But you should at the very least know your own morals by now."

"I do?"

Talitha let out a laugh, "Then answer this. Is it ok to kill humans?"

"That's blatant."

"Just answer the question."

"Of course not."

"Even if that person causes harm to the ones you care about?"

"Well no but it's a bit more complicated."

"But you would want to right?"

"Well wouldn't you?"

"No! Because in no way is it ok to harm another person. You let the system deal with it. Both vampires and humans have laws to deal with this."

"You are so naive. You know that doesn't work that way."

"But it can."

"It won't."

"So take matters in your own hands."

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because you are better than that!"

"No I'm not!" Vlad's eyes turn red.

Talitha stayed silent.

"No I'm not better than that. Why should I ever trust anyone to handle things for me? No one would care enough to. I have to take care of everything. I have to protect my family because there is no way I would ever trust anyone else to. Especially not the slayers."

"But this is more about just protecting your family right? You want so bad to make things how you think they should be. You have that power. Why shouldn't you use it and do what have to make that happen."

"That doesn't mean that I want to hurt others to accomplish that."

"But you wont have that choice if that's what you want. Politics just doesn't work that way. You have tried that and failed."

Vlad didn't argue. He really couldn't.

"Besides. You already killed a few people just to help someone you shouldn't trust. You are very capable of doing it again."

Talitha's eyes started to water, "You are a vampire. I am too. But you are meant to part of a life there is no way I can be part of."

"So what then?"

Talitha wiped her eyes, "We're done."

Talitha sped out the room before Vlad could blink.

Vlad knew he should feel something about this, but the truth was he didn't. It was odd. He felt relief.


	18. Chapter 18

"So she's gone?" Ingrid said.

Vlad and Ingrid sat in the throne room alone. They sat opposite of one another on the coaches.

"Yep." Was all Vlad said staring at the fire.

"And you're ok with this?" Ingrid frowned.

"Well of course not. I guess I'm just numb."

"Are sure you really liked her? Cause she was annoying."

Vlad rolled his eyes, "Yes… at least I did at one point."

"But you haven't for a while right?"

Vlad looked at his sister. "Well I guess not," He said almost sarcastically.

Ingrid was happy to hear it. She wasn't ashamed to admit she really hated that girl. She was a tree hugger. A bit of an arrogant one too. She didn't really care why the hippy left. She was just happy she was gone.

"So what now then?" Ingrid smiled a little.

Vlad sighed, "I'm not really sure."

Ingrid stood up and began pacing the fireplace, "Well maybe we should continue figuring out what Draco is up to."

As Ingrid said that Piers walked in, "I'm way ahead of you."

Piers sat down next to Vlad with his laptop and pulled up a screen with a picture of Draco.

"What's this?" Vlad asked.

"Draco was speaking to the necklace again," Piers explained.

"Anything new?" Ingrid asked.

"Yeah. He spoke in English."

Ingrid was suddenly next to Piers as he played the video.

In the video Draco was chanting the same thing over and over, "Tell me where you are."

"Who is he talking to?" Ingrid asked.

"I'm not sure," Piers said. "But he is clearly communicating through that necklace. I want to get it back so I can examine it."

"He's not going to just give it to us," Vlad said. "He never takes it off either."

"Well we could just try the straight forward approach and just ask for it," Piers said.

"Why would he be ok with that?" Vlad asked.

"To win your trust which for some reason he needs," Ingrid said.

Vlad sighed, "Fine."

* * *

Vlad stood outside Draco's door and knocked.

"Enter," Draco called.

Vlad stepped in and looked around the room. Draco seemed to make himself at home. He had brought a lot of books upstairs and even had a laptop sitting on top of his coffin.

"Why do you have that?" Vlad asked.

"The breather gave it to me. Trying to learn about this time period."

"You like to study."

"Well knowledge is power as Sir Francis Bacon first said back in 1597," Draco smiled. "So what can I do for you?"

"I want to know why you still have that necklace," Vlad realized that was a bit quick but thought getting to the point would mean less time for Draco to try and manipulate him.

"Well it is mine."

"But what do you need it for?"

Draco let out a small laugh, "You really don't like me do you?"

"Why should I?"

"Well I helped you reunite with your breather family."

"I don't even understand why you did that," Vlad was becoming more and more frustrated with this guy time he had to talk to him. "Why are you even here? What are you hoping to gain?"

"Why do you think I have to have a motive?" Draco moved closer to Vlad.

"I never met a vampire who didn't want something," Vlad crossed his arms.

"Well believe it or not, all I want is for vampires to be free again. I chose you to make that happen, so I'm going to help you."

Vlad wasn't sure what to think. His whole life he believed every vampire was the same. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe it was just one of the many things that needed to change. Vampires should look out for one another. Now more then ever.

"Why should I trust you?"

"Maybe you shouldn't," Draco said. "But maybe over time I will earn your trust."

* * *

Vlad had no idea what to think. Part of him wish he never found the necklace. Everything that has happened since then has only made him confused and angry.

Vlad walked into the throne room. Ingrid and Piers as still there.

"So did you get the necklace?" Piers asked.

Vlad's eyes widened.

Ingrid leaned back in here seat and crossed her arms, "You fell for one of his tricks didn't you."

"Oh you have no room to talk," Vlad said.

"But at least I'm not a hypocrite," Ingrid laughed.

Piers took her hand, "Hun, now is not the time."

Ingrid sighed, "Fine."

"You're ok Vlad," Piers said. "I'll just keep monitoring him and I'll let you know if I learn anything."

Vlad nodded.

Piers stood up from the couch and stretched, "Well I'm exhausted. I'm going to get some sleep."

Piers left the room, but Ingrid decided to stay behind.

"So while Piers is doing that what should we do?" Ingrid asked.

Vlad shrugged, "I guess just keep talking with Draco. Learn as much as we can."

Ingrid nodded in agreement, "So how do you think dad is taking all of this?"

In all the chaos Vlad realized he never actually had the chance to talk with him. Which was weird. His dad always around ready to give his opinion on everything.

"I don't know," Vlad stood up. "But I'm going to find out."

* * *

Vlad didn't bother knocking on his dad's door. He let himself in and sat on the desk chair. Vlad's father jumped not expecting his son to appear there.

"You've been really quiet through this whole thing," Vlad said.

"I'm observing," the Count sneered. "I don't trust him."

"Good. So you're on the same page as the rest of us," Vlad stood up. "So what do you think we should do?"

"Throw him in the garlic pit and be done with it?" The Count suggested.

Vlad rolled his eyes, "That's your answer for everything."

"Well what was your plan?"

"Wait for him to slip. Once we find a solid reason not to trust him then we call him out on it and take it from there."

The Count turned and snapped his fingers to open his coffin, "Well if you want to do it the civil way."

The Count got into his coffin with a book and opened it, "But if he causes us any trouble the you are the one to blame. You are the one who brought him here in the first place."

"I'm aware of that," Vlad said.

"Good. Now find me the bottle of Francis Bacon. I'm thirsty."

"Thanks for your help," Vlad said sarcastically.

"Wait," the Count called. He got up from his coffin and stood next to Vlad.

"In all seriousness I think for once we have someone here who has the right intensions. But we still shouldn't fully trust him until he has given us reason to. Watch him carefully, play along and don't make an enemy of him. We have no idea what he is capable of yet."

Vlad thought about it and was glad he came to talk to his father. He always made things simple. Sometimes he could see that his dad was once a leader.

"Thanks dad."

"You're welcome," the Count smiled. "I was serious about the blood though now hurry."

Vlad rolled his eyes and smiled, "Yes dad."

* * *

 **If I'm being honest, I was scrambling to make the middle of this story work. I had no idea how I wanted to transition into the next part. So this Chapter was more about character building and me figuring out how I want this to go. Once I wrote the bit with the Count my mind finally put the pieces together. I promise this will start to become a lot more exciting.**


	19. Chapter 19

**So thank you to HeathenVampires who respond to the new chapters of Trials almost an hour after they went up. If any of you would like to predict what you think will happen in the next few chapters I welcome you to give it a shot. I already made up my mind how this will end and I wont tell you if you're right, but it would be fun to see what you think. Also, please leave advice on how I can improve on my writing. It's always helpful to hear from you all. Enjoy the new chapter!**

* * *

Jonathan VanHelsing was in the lab repairing a UV gun when his mother walked in.

"I heard you let Vlad go," Mina said.

Jonathan sighed and turned in his seat, "Yes. He wasn't harming anyone. I had no reason to take him in if he didn't want to."

"You weren't there to invite him for dinner," Mina raised her voice. "You were there to take him into custody."

"He hasn't done anything wrong though," Jonathan said.

"You can't know that," Mina said. "There has been suspicious activity over by that school for the last week."

"Ingrid lives there mom."

"And letting her run free is also a mistake. We know she's a killer."

"We agreed to a truce with the Dracula's."

"That was if they didn't bite anyone."

Jonathan knew that as a slayer his mom was right, about Ingrid anyway, but it was more complicated than that. Vlad would be furious if anything happened to his sister, and although Jonathan trusted Vlad he definitely didn't want to be on his bad side.

"We should march right over there and arrest them for murder."

"Mom, I know you're the leader of this division, but I need to do this my own way. This is a special case."

Mina kept a frustrated look on her face but thankfully agreed, "Fine. But I'm putting you in charge of investigating the recent deaths. Starting with one of our own." Mina placed a folder in front of Jonathan. "A slayer is missing. His last known location was in the forest area near the school. Find out all that you can."

"And how are you planning on using the information that I find?" Jonathan said while looking through the folder.

"We plan on using the information to help humans like us. It is our duty to keep them safe."

"Fine," Jonathan said. "I'll finish this before the end of the week."

"Start at the school," Mina said as she walked out the room. "Even if the Dracula's aren't guilty they are likely to still know something."

* * *

It had been a while since Jonathan has visited Garside. He heard that it had closed, but didn't expect that it would have become so rundown so fast. He never understood it, but Vampires loved creepy old buildings. Actually he never understood a lot of things about Vampires. Even Vlad seemed to feel comfortable with this sort of thing.

Jonathan got out of his car and approached the front door. It was still daylight out but it would be dark in just an hour. He figured this would be the best time to show up.

He knocked on the door and waited for a response. After about a minute the door cracked open and he could see a young girl peaking outside.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Hi! Is either Ingrid or Vlad here? I'm an old friend of theirs."

The girl stared at him for moment. She looked sort of familiar, but he could barley see since she would only open the door about 2 inches.

"Hold on," she closed the door and Jonathan waited a few minutes.

Jonathan tried to think where he saw that girl before. Could she be the girl from the house they had spied on? They assumed the girl was Vlad's sister, but they weren't 100% sure.

After a few minutes the door finally cracked open again, "Come on in." It was Vlad's voice, but he stood away from the door to avoid the sunlight.

Jonathan walked though. He was in the foyer that used to be the center of the school. Now it looks just like a regular mansion foyer. Everything was darker now though. Large dark gray curtains covered the windows and only candles light the room. Much like the way the old Stokely Castle used to be lit.

In the corner though there was something hanging. It looked like a wind chime of some kind.

"My mom made that," Vlad stood next to Jonathan.

Jonathan looked at his friend and smiled, "It's cool. What is it?"

Vlad shrugged his shoulders, "It's a sculpture. Each thing hanging from it represents how my mom views life."

Jonathan smiled, "That's really cool actually."

Jonathan finally took a real look at Vlad and noticed he was a bit different. His hear was a bit longer. It covered his ears about halfway down. He wore black sweatpants and a dark gray t-shirt. Like he was just woken up. His eyes seemed a bit darker. It was always weird because Vlad really did look like a corpse like all the other Vampires did.

"She's an artist," Vlad said. "But I'm sure you knew that."

Jonathan knew he was referring to the spying.

"Look I wanted to tell you, but I had no way to contact you and we weren't ever going to even approach them."

Jonathan was going to continue, but Vlad stopped him.

"I know you were just doing your job, but I can't let them have so much attention on them. I wanted them away from all this."

Jonathan looked confused, "Then why bring them back into it?"

"I didn't know what else to do at the time, and I had no idea you were part of this," Vlad explained. "I trust you, but the other slayers not so much."

Jonathan nodded in agreement, "I know how you feel. Hopefully we can one day finally make peace. The world isn't ready for it just yet I guess."

Vlad smiled, "So what are you doing here? If you wanted to check on my mom and sister then they are fine. They're upstairs."

"No. I'm here for a completely different matter. I actually have to do my job for once," Jonathan sounded disappointed.

"What is it?" Vlad frowned.

"There's a slayer missing. Last time he was heard from was in an area nearby. We aren't saying that your family has anything to do with it. We just want to know if you know anything."

Vlad realized that he completely forgot about the slayer. Of course the Guild was going to want to know what happened. Still Vlad knew to not let anything show on his face. So he asked, "Who's we?"

Jonathan shrugged, "You know my mom and pretty much anyone else in the higher ups. Also I'm always concerned about everyone's safety."

Vlad nodded, "Ok. Well I haven't seen or heard anything. I can ask Ingrid though?"

Vlad knew that if he was going to lie he would have to at least appear like he was going to help.

"That would be great," Jonathan said.

Vlad led Jonathan up to the throne room. There was the girl there sitting on the coach playing on a Nintendo 3DS.

"George," Vlad said. Keep Jonathan company while I get Ingrid.

George rolled her eyes, "Fine."

"Don't be like that," Vlad took her game from her. "And don't talk his ear off like you like to do."

"I don't do that," George argued

Vlad turned around before walking out the door, "Don't lie."

George glared at her brother before he shut the door. She then faced Jonathan and said something he really wasn't expecting, "So how many Vampires have you killed?"

* * *

"Why would you let him in?!" Ingrid's eyes were red.

"Well it would seem suspicious if I didn't since Jonathan is a friend," Vlad argued.

"A friend who would turn on you in a second if he knew you were the one behind the slayers disappearance," Piers said.

"Exactly," Ingrid said.

"So what would you have done?" Vlad said.

"Turned him away!"

"But then the slayer would be suspicious and would have continued to investigate us," Piers said.

Ingrid tilted her head towards Piers, "Who's side are you on?"

"Look," Vlad said. "This is very simple. You just go in there, tell him you don't know anything and then send him off."

"He won't believe me," Ingrid said. "I'm not in his trust circle like you."

Piers stood up from his computer chair, "Then you tell him some story about seeing another Vampire in the area a few nights ago. Give a description of the fake vamp and that will lead him down a never ending trail."

"Yeah," Vlad said. "Do that."

"It's your mess," Ingrid said. "Why do I have to clean it up?"

"Because I already told him I didn't know anything."

Ingrid closed her eyes to get control of her temper, "Fine, but no more favors?"

* * *

"So what is your favorite weapon to use?" George asked.

"I don't really have a favorite weapon," Jonathan replied. "But I prefer to use a UV gun that's similar to what a .38 special looks like when I'm in sudden danger."

"Cool," George smiled. "I've been practicing archery lately. Mom wanted me to participate in a sport, but I don't always work well on teams."

Jonathan smiled, but that was soon whipped from his face when the Count appeared in the room.

"Hi Uncle Count," George said.

The Count sighed not looking at them, "Why do kids always insist on calling me that?"

The Count then frowned and then turned his head to Jonathan. He still looked the same as ever. Long black hair, red long robe and black pointed boots.

"What are you doing here?" The Count asked.

"I'm here to talk to Vlad and Ingrid," Jonathan's voice cracked a little. "I'll be out soon."

The Counts eyes turned red, "You better be."

Vlad appeared with his sister next to his father.

"What are you doing up so early?" Vlad asked.

"I woke up to an odd smell. I just found the source," The Count stared at Jonathan.

Ingrid walked over to the couch and sat next to George.

"Leave," Ingrid said to her.

George frowned, "You can't tell me what to do."

Ingrid hissed at her which made George's eyes enlarge but she didn't seem all that frightened.

"Fine," George said. "Anything to get away from you."

George walked over to Vlad, "May I have my game back?"

Vlad handed her the Nintendo and George left the room.

Ingrid smiled at Jonathan, "So how have you been?"

Jonathan frowned, "Just fine."

Vlad whispered something in the Counts ear. Whatever he said seemed to annoy the Count, but he did move to sit on his throne and turned his attention to the newspaper.

Vlad sat next to Ingrid. Vlad changed before returning. He was now wearing dark blue jeans and a light gray shirt. He wore a dark green open button collared long-sleeve shirt over the t-shirt along with some gray sneakers.

Ingrid was wearing a much different style. A black leather top, a long dark purple skirt and black leather boots.

Other than the fact that they were vampires you wouldn't believe the two of them were siblings.

"So Vlad told me that you are here to ask about a missing slayer?" Ingrid began.

"Yeah," Jonathan said. "Do you know anything about that?"

Ingrid smiled, "In fact I actually do."

Ingrid looked to her brother with a mischievous grin. Vlad had no idea what that look was for.

Ingrid looked back a Jonathan with a smile, "I saw a female vampire running around near the school just the other day. She had long brown hair, dressed in green and brown clothes. She wore a lot of jewelry. She likes to claim she's some new age vampire who loves breathers, but I think it's just an act."

Vlad couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was setting up Talitha.

"So you spoke to her?" Jonathan said.

"Briefly," Ingrid continued. "She seemed to be in a hurry. I have no idea where she was going."

Jonathan nodded "Did you notice anything else about her?"

Ingrid thought about it for a second, "Yeah, I she has this annoying voice. Kind of sounds like dying bird."

Jonathan smiled trying not to laugh, "Well I guess that's all I need. Thanks for your help."

"No problem," Vlad said softly.

"I'll see myself out," Jonathan said.


	20. Chapter 20

**So I hoped release 6 chapters in 2 days would make up for more than a year of silence...yes? No? Ok well I hope you enjoy this chapter anyway XD**

* * *

"What is wrong with you?" Vlad said to the probably most messed up sister on the planet. After the last couple weeks Vlad had completely forgotten that his sister was a psycho. He should have known the nice sister act was too good to last.

"I don't like her and you aren't dating her anymore so she is now a target," Ingrid said.

"Ok I'm going to ignore your reasoning for doing this now, so how about you explain why you sent Jonathan after her? What if he finds her?"

"Relax," Ingrid stood up and walked to the dining table. "He probably won't find her. She is completely off the grid and I never even gave Jonathan her name."

"Sure, but there are few new age vamps out there. If he does find here she will stand out."

"So what? She won't tell him that she knows you."

"What if she does?"

"Then we deal with it then," She moved to put her arm around Vlad. "You need to relax about these things and see the fun in it."

"Ingrid this isn't funny," Vlad moved her arm away from him. "You may not like her, but I don't. I definitely wouldn't send a slayer after her."

"Well I hate her so tough. She can deal with it herself," Ingrid sat down at the table as Renfield rolled in a cart of food.

Vlad looked at his father who still hadn't taken his eyes off the paper, "Dad will you say something?"

His dad threw the paper down and laid his head back, "I'm not dealing with you two today. Whatever problems you have solve it yourself."

"Well that's not very leader like," Draco appeared next to Vlad. "You should always try and help solve problems. Especially for your children."

"My children are annoying," the Count said.

Vlad rolled his eyes at his dad's childish behavior.

"Then would you mind if I helped them then?" Draco asked.

"Be my guest," the Count said.

Draco turned to Vlad and Ingrid, "Sit down."

Vlad decided to not argue. He figured it would be best to take his fathers advice and play along for now.

So Vlad told Draco everything about his former relationship with Talitha as well as his friendship with Jonathan VanHelsing.

After he was done Draco looked at Ingrid with disappointment.

"You sent the slayer after someone that is connected to this family?" Draco said.

"It was funny," Ingrid argued. "Besides you should have seen Vlad's face when…"

"ENOUGH!" Draco's eyes turned red.

For once Vlad saw more than just looks in the family resemblance in Draco.

"This is why you are all hiding in the shadows! You have no loyalty to one another! How can you expect to become united if you turn on one another just to have a laugh?"

Even the Count was paying attention now.

"You think this is all just a joke?" Draco continued his rant. "Vampires once ruled the world and now I finally see why no one fears you all anymore. You'll just destroy one another. No reason to even bother trying to fight Vampires if you will just kill one another off."

"It's not that extreme," Ingrid tried to argue.

"Isn't it?" Draco said. "You just gave a slayer a clue that leads him to a clear message that Vlad was lying to him. No you better pray that he never finds that girl, because if he does then we could all be in real trouble."

For once Ingrid actually looked guilty. She looked down at her hands and didn't say another word.

"And you," Draco pointed to the Count. "How could you ever let it get this far?"

"Don't you dare pass judgment on me!" the Count stood up from his throne. "This is how it's been for centuries!"

"So you gather an army under your name by sending your enemies on your allies?"

The Count looked offended, but didn't speak.

"And how about you?" Now it was Vlad's turn. "I understand keeping an eye on the slayers, but how could you possibly consider one a friend? Especially one that openly kills your own people!"

"He only does so in self defense," Vlad argued.

"Oh but that's completely off limits for you?" Draco taunted. "I guarantee that if you claimed self defense those slayers would still be calling for your head."

No one spoke. It was tense in the room, and with four powerful Vampires it probably was about to explode in there.

Draco took a deep breath, "I'm done observing. I promised that I have no intention on taking over this family. I'll hold myself to that despite the fact that all three of you are a bunch of idiots. But from now on I'm in charge of getting this family back in order. I'll work with you Count until I know you can actually lead again. You are still head of this family."

No one spoke. Everyone just looked at one another waiting for someone to speak.

"Fine," the Count said. "Do what you must."

Ingrid and Vlad looked at one another worried about their father giving Draco power over them.

* * *

Ingrid and Vlad joined Piers in his lab. They had just told him everything that happened. Piers held his mouth open for five minutes before he finally said something.

"So he's in charge now?" Piers asked.

"Yep," Ingrid said. "Count Moron said so."

Piers leaned back in his seat, "Oh I'm so dead."

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "He's not going to kill you."

"He hates me! Why wouldn't he now that he's calling the shots?"

"He hates all of us," Vlad said. "But we won't let him harm you."

The look of worry didn't leave Piers' eyes.

"So what are we going to do?" Ingrid asked.

Vlad shrugged his shoulders a laughed, "What can we do? He's too dangerous to just ignore."

"Why are we so afraid of him anyway?" Ingrid asked. "We all think he has some great power, but I haven't seen it. Most any of us has seen is his quick change skills and manipulative voice, and which one of us doesn't have that?"

Piers raises his hand, "I don't have any quick changing skills."

Ingrid smacked him the head.

"Ingrid," Vlad said, "He's thousands of years old. One of the first Vampires there is no way we can take him on."

"We beat Sithius. They were bothers. How much tougher can he be?" Ingrid said.

"Sithius' bloodline is gone," Vlad said. "The Dracula line still exists which already proves we are more powerful and even then this guy isn't arrogant like Sithius. He won't fall for any tricks we have."

Ingrid sighed and leaned against the wall.

"Besides," Vlad began. "Maybe we were wrong about Draco all along. Maybe he really does want to help."

Piers looked up from his chair, "You're joking."

"No I'm not," Vlad said. "He hasn't given us one bit of evidence that he's untrustworthy."

"You mean besides the glowing necklace, manipulation, and taking over your family?" Piers said.

"I'm willing to take a chance on this if you guys are," Vlad said."

Both Vlad and Piers looked at Ingrid.

"I guess we will just have to wait and see," she said.


	21. Chapter 21

Before Vlad had gone to sleep Draco approached him and said that they would be going out after sunset. He didn't ask Vlad to. He demanded it. It took only a few hours before Draco started ordering him around.

Vlad hated this. So much has happened in the past year and he still hadn't figured out what was wrong with him yet. Talking to his dad last time helped. Maybe he should do that again, but he was afraid his father would just be happy that Vlad was questioning his morals a encourage him to let go of them. Vlad at least knew that wasn't going to happen. He figured the problem was that he never really knew his morals in the first place. He just did what he thought was right at the time. Up until now it seemed to work just fine. Now things aren't so black and white.

Vlad returned to his room where he found George sitting on his couch playing her Nintendo again.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. "It's 5AM."

"I woke up early," George said. "I heard Draco yelling last night and wanted to see if everything was ok."

"What did you hear?" Vlad asked.

"Nothing really. All I could hear was the yelling."

Vlad sat down next to George and watched her play her game.

"What are you playing?" He asked.

"Fire Emblem. It's one of my favorites. You could either buy Birthright or Conquest. Whichever you choose decided what side you were on."

"And which did you choose?"

"Conquest. I like the costumes and the dark tone of it."

Vlad chuckled at that. George seemed to like darker things. When she was here before she was scared a lot of the time, but now she seemed completely at ease with everything.

"So how are the Ramanga brothers?" George asked. "Have the visited?"

Vlad remembered that George had a friendship with the younger Ramanga brother.

"Well I haven't heard from them since you were last here, but we are still getting along. If they need anything they know they are welcome here."

George nodded and returned to her game.

"How have you been though?" Vlad asked. "I know this happened so fast and we haven't had the chance to talk really."

"I'm ok. I've been keeping myself entertained. I think mom is worried though."

Vlad felt guilty for hardly spending any time with them. He decided that he would see his mom before he left with Draco that night.

"Well I need to get some sleep," Vlad said.

George hugged him and then ran out the room.

Vlad snapped his fingers to open his coffin. He laid down for only a second and he was asleep.

* * *

The first thing Vlad noticed was that he was back at that damn lake again. Great. Then he saw his sister standing only a couple feet away.

"We're in the dream world aren't we?" Vlad asked.

"Yep," Ingrid replied. "I needed to talk to you."

"You're going to yell at me?"

Ingrid nodded her head, "No. I'm as conflicted as you are with this situation."

Vlad tilted his head, "So what do you want to talk about?"

"You," Ingrid said. "I know we don't have a good record as siblings, but I do know you better than most."

Vlad sighed, "Ingrid I still can't tell you what I'm thinking. I don't even know what I'm thinking."

"I know that," Ingrid snapped. "But I'm going to give you something to think about. I just have one question."

Vlad nodded, "Ok?"

"Is it ever ok to kill a breather?"

Vlad frowned, "I…"

"Don't," Ingrid cut him off. "Just answer yes or no."

Vlad thought for a second, "Yes."

Ingrid looked down and laughed.

"What?" Vlad asked.

"A year ago you would have said no without hesitation."

Vlad knew she was right. A lot has changed. But he still didn't believe in killing just for the hell of it.

"Go hunting with me," Ingrid said.

Vlad was caught of guard, "What?"

"How vampires hunt says a lot about them. I won't tell anyone. Not even Piers."

"Why would I go hunting with you in the first place?"

"Because it will answer a lot of questions we both have. You won't have to kill anyone. Let's just see what happens."

Vlad thought about it for a moment. He understood what Ingrid was trying to do. Still this seemed to be an extreme way to get answers.

"I'm not sure about this Ingrid."

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "Come on. For once in your life take a risk. Unless you are afraid of what you'll learn about yourself."

Vlad knew what she was doing. Intimidating people was her specialty. Still, Vlad didn't have a better way to get the answers he needed.

"Fine," Vlad said. "I'll go with you. We will go as soon as I get back with Draco."

Ingrid smirked, "Great."

She turned as if she was about to fly off, "Oh! And don't have any soy blood before then."

Vlad shrugged already knowing why she said that, "Sure."

Ingrid smiled, "See you soon."

The dream faded and Vlad woke up.

* * *

After Vlad got dressed he made his way to the throne room. His mom was there on the coach by herself. She was drawing and had papers surrounding her. Vlad thought this would be the perfect time to finally have a conversation with her before Draco showed up.

"Hey," was all Vlad said.

Sally looked up and smiled, "Hi. I've barley seen you around the last couple days."

"I know. Sorry about that. Things have been hectic. But I have a couple minutes now."

Sally motioned for Vlad to sit next to her.

"So what's on your mind?" She asked.

"A lot. But I am worried about you. George said you were concerned," Vlad said.

"Well I'm just worried about you. I know I still don't know everything that I can about you, but I'm still your mother. Instinct and all that I guess."

Vlad laughed at how cheerful his mother was. She was always smiling.

"I wouldn't even know where to begin. I'm just glad you're here. I know that you're safe here," Vlad said.

Sally tilted her head. Vlad could see that she wanted more information than that, but he really didn't know what to tell her. He didn't want her to worry, but she was going to anyway.

"Just know that I'm looking out for you and George," Vlad continued. "I won't let anything happen to either of you.

Sally smiled, "Well I'm glad to hear it. You can talk to me about anything you know. I want to help where I can."

"I know you do. Let me think about it some more. Once I'm thinking more clearly then we can talk."

Sally seemed satisfied with that, "Sounds good to me. Now what do you think of this sketch? I'm wanting to work on a new sculpture. It's a fountain."

Vlad was about to respond when Draco entered the room.

Sally dropped her shoulders and rolled her eyes. Vlad couldn't help but chuckle. He was glad to see his mom like Draco just as much as the rest of them did.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Draco said. "But Vladimir and I have plans."

"Alright then," Sally said sarcastically. She gathered her papers and stood up.

She gave Vlad a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room. Draco waited until the door was closed.

"Ready?" Draco asked.

"Where are we going?" Vlad said.

"Just to the woods. I just want to talk and maybe see what you are capable of."

"So you're going to test me," Vlad guessed.

Draco nodded, "In a way, but don't think of it like that. Think of it as us finally getting to know one another."

Vlad looked at him odd, "You're so strange."

Draco chuckled, "I told you that I don't want to be enemies. I want to help."

Vlad wasn't sure if he should trust that. He sounded genuine, but could easily lie.

"Whatever," was all Vlad said.

"Ok, first lesson," Draco said.

Lesson? Vlad thought.

"Don't be rude to a potential ally. Even if you don't like them you want them to think you trust them."

Vlad decided that it was probably best to just go with this.

"Ok," he smiled. "What's the second lesson?"

Draco smirked, "Learn to keep up."

"What?"

Draco flew out the window. Once he realized what was going on Vlad raced after him.


	22. Chapter 22

Draco was fast but so was Vlad. It wasn't difficult to keep up with him. He wasn't sure what the point of this was. He guessed to see how fast he was. Vlad knew he was a lot faster than most vampires. His own sister couldn't keep up with him.

Draco finally stopped in the middle of the forest. Vlad hadn't noticed until then that he was really tired. He hadn't had any soy blood since his sister asked him not to. He regretted listening to her.

"Good," Draco said. "You have no issues with speed. You should work a bit on your stamina though."

"Noted," Vlad said. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"A lot of things, but lets start with why you are fighting so hard against your instincts?"

"I don't know what you mean?" Vlad said as he took a seat on a large rock.

"If you had just listened to your instincts a long time ago you wouldn't be in a moral dilemma."

"Well we saw what happened when I let my instincts take over. I have little control."

"Following your instincts doesn't mean you let the monster part of you take over. You never learned to balance that. I'm guessing because you never wanted to."

"So how do I learn?"

Draco smiled, "Think about the slayers. A few days ago when we were surrounded by them. What were your instincts telling you then?"

"I don't know."

"Yes you do. What was the first thing you wanted to do the moment you knew they were coming?"

"Get everyone to safety."

"And then what?"

"Get the slayers away from my family."

"Now you did that. But you made an error. You stayed back to ask questions. Because of that you near got yourself killed."

Vlad was so tired of arguing about this.

"So tell me what you want to do after they shot at you?" Draco continued.

"I ran away," Vlad said.

"I didn't ask you what you did. What did you want to do?"

Vlad looked right in Draco's eyes. He felt like he was being challenged, "I wanted to fight back."

"But you didn't. Had you followed your instincts from the very beginning you would have never had to even deal with them."

"So what? Everyone is fine."

"But it's not fine Vladimir!" Draco's eyes turned red. "You gave that slayer boy a chance to get into your head. Do you know why you are so confused? Because you have 10 different people pulling you in different directions. Each one with an opinion on how you should use your power."

Vlad stayed silent. He was already angry, but he couldn't let Draco see that he was getting to him.

"You don't have to listen to anyone Vlad. Everything is up to you. That power you have is not anyone else's to control but yours. If you had just followed your instincts you would have realized that by now."

That did it.

"SHUT UP!" Vlad yelled. Lightning was coming from his hands ready for him to set it off.

"You know what my instincts are telling me now?!" Vlad's eyes were red now.

"Oh I have an idea," Draco taunted.

Vlad knew this is what Draco wanted, but he didn't care.

Vlad threw the lightning to Draco, but he just surrounded himself with a green shield that absorbed the lightning.

"Don't try it Vladimir," Draco warned. "You can't beat me in a fight."

Vlad ignored him and switched to using fire and threw multiple flames. Draco just absorbed that too. Vlad charged at him, but even with Vlad's speed Draco still was able to disappear. Vlad looked around but didn't see him.

"You just gave me an idea," Draco said.

Vlad had no idea where that voice is coming from.

"Try and land a hit on me, if you can even find me," Draco laughed.

Vlad was already tired of this, "Why are you doing this?"

"To teach you," Draco said.

Vlad was trying to listen for where he was but it sounded like Draco's voice was coming from every direction.

"Use your instincts Vladimir," Draco said.

"Stop saying that!" Vlad yelled.

Vlad threw a fireball in a random direction.

"You wont find me that way," Draco said. "Come on. You like to over think. Use all of your senses. Don't second guess yourself."

Vlad lowered his fists and closed his eyes to try and regain his composure.

Vlad listened and waited. Vlad realized Draco's voice was coming from his head. He was speaking to him telepathically. Listening for his voice was pointless. Vlad also figured that Draco wasn't moving. He heard no footsteps or wings flapping other than the birds in the area.

"You have more senses than just hearing," Draco said. Use your sense of feeling. Your sense of smell."

Just as Draco said that a slight breeze went by and Vlad could small Draco's clothes. Vlad disappeared and landed just behind Draco who was up on a tree. Vlad has a fireball ready but Draco dropped down just as Vlad set it off.

"Shit!" Vlad yelled.

Draco once again surrounded himself in a shield. After he landed on the ground.

Vlad landed next to him and frowned.

"Will you stop doing that?"

"Having a strong defense is just as important as an offense," Draco said.

Vlad wasn't angry anymore. Just annoyed.

"Good work though," Draco said. "You managed to take control of your temper and think through the situation."

"I thought you said I think too much," Vlad said.

"Yes, but there is always a balance. Let your instincts tell you what you need to do, let your mind tell you how you should do it."

Vlad never learned that much about combat. When he trained with Bertrand they mostly worked on him learning to control his powers and learn more about them.

Draco dropped the shield and smiled.

"That's enough for one night. I just wanted to learn where you were at and where we should start in your training. You know all the basics. You just need to learn how to use them and real situations."

"So now what then?" Vlad asked.

"We will officially start your training next week. Until then practice using all your senses."

Vlad didn't want to admit that he was actually looking forward to the training, but he did always enjoy learning. He loved absorbing as much information as he could. He just wished he had a less frustrating teacher.

"Let's go back," Draco said. "I need to talk to your father about a few things. You are free to spend the rest of the night how you wish."

As Draco turned around Vlad couldn't help himself. He quickly set off a fireball and managed to hit Draco's arm. It wasn't enough to do any damage. But it did set his coat on fire.

Draco quickly took his coat off and stomped on it to put it out.

Vlad couldn't help but laugh.

"So I won right?" Vlad asked.

Draco smirked, "You'll regret that later. That was my favorite coat."

* * *

 **Let me know what you think. Do you think Vlad has made the right decision on working with Draco?  
**


	23. Chapter 23

It was about midnight when Vlad and Draco returned to the school. Ingrid was waiting for them in the throne room.

"About time," Ingrid said. "We need to get going."

"Where are you two going?" The Count said.

"Sibling bonding time," Ingrid said.

Ingrid grabbed Vlad's arm and rushed him out.

The Count looked at Draco for a second, "Sibling bonding time? Somehow I doubt that."

"Well I certainly wouldn't call it that," Draco said pouring himself a glass of blood. "But they are spending some time together."

"Probably a bad idea," said the Count as he took a sip from his own glass.

"Why do you believe that?" Draco asked.

"Ingrid has always been trouble. You know she tried to kill me more than once."

Draco rubbed his eyes and sighed, "We have a lot of work to do."

"So how'd it go?" Ingrid asked Vlad they walk along the street.

"As well as you would expect," Vlad replied. "We talked, then yelled, calmed down and then came home."

"What were you two yelling about?"

Vlad decided to go ahead and tell Ingrid everything. He needed someone to tell him if he was making a mistake for trusting Draco.

"Wow," Ingrid said. "So Draco pretty much thinks you have too many people influencing you."

"Pretty much," Vlad said. "He might be right, but that doesn't mean much."

"But it means a lot if you're listening to him," Ingrid said. "You can't possibly trust him."

"I don't, but I'm willing to give him a chance," Vlad said.

Ingrid rolled her eyes. Her brother was always so naive. It annoyed the hell out of her.

"Where are we going anyway?" Vlad asked.

"To town, but just outside of it. A lot of people walk this way to have a campfire after partying all night."

Ingrid took a look at her watch, "And it's about 1AM which means a few people should be heading this way soon."

Almost on cue Vlad saw a group of college-aged students heading onto a trail.

Ingrid smiled at him, "And that's the group we will be following."

Before Ingrid could speed off Vlad grabbed her arm.

"Hold on. You are going to kill them all?"

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "Of course not. Just wait until one or two of them steps away from the rest of the group."

Ingrid the sped of and Vlad followed. They sat up on a large tree branch together close by the students.

It only took 15min before two guys ran away from the group. Probably to gather more firewood.

"From here on out you're on your own," Ingrid said. "Either stay up here, fly down with me, or do whatever you think you need to."

Ingrid jumped down to start her hunt. Vlad decided to follow. He didn't have a reason why. Just curious probably.

It surprised Ingrid that Vlad even agreed to come. Now he was going to watch her? This definitely wasn't the same Vlad she grew up with.

She reached the two guys quickly and didn't waste any time. She got to the first and gave him a kick in the stomach. He stumbled back and then fell to the ground. His friend had a pissed off look on his face.

"What's your problem bitch?" He said.

"No problem," Ingrid said. "Just hungry."

Vlad stayed back knowing that Ingrid would be fine. He thought it was best to just keep an eye on her.

The second male charged her, but Ingrid easily dodged. She tripped him as he went by. Before he could get up she grabbed his legs and broke them without any effort.

Ingrid wasn't holding back at all. It was like she was punishing them.

Ingrid had become impatient and lifted the guy she just tripped by his neck. She turned him around and threw him against a tree. In a second she had her fangs in his neck. She covered his mouth so the others wouldn't hear him scream.

Vlad didn't do a thing. He just watched. He wasn't at all horrified like he thought he should have been. If anything he was impressed and curious. Ingrid had a smile on her face the whole time. She was enjoying this. But it wasn't right. These guys weren't slayers and they weren't causing any trouble. Vlad began to get a headache as he was starting to put together his thoughts.

This was wrong right? He always believed it was. He should stop Ingrid and make her come home.

Finally the smell of blood hit Vlad. He almost forgot it had been more than a day since he had soy blood and more than a week since he had fresh blood. His throat was suddenly completely dry. He wanted it so bad and he was just steps away.

No! What was he thinking? If he did that then everything he ever believed in would be thrown out the window. But at this point would that be a bad thing? He was so tired of being so unsure. He wanted to just move on from this and make a decision.

As Vlad was snapping out of his thoughts when he noticed that Ingrid forgot about the other guy she kicked in the stomach. He started to get up and Ingrid didn't seem to notice. He pulled a knife out from his pocket and charged toward her.

Vlad didn't even hesitate. He grabbed the guys' wrist and disarmed him. The next thing he knew Vlad had his fangs in the guys' neck. The guy began to yell, but Vlad covered his mouth so no one would hear him.

Ingrid didn't pay any attention at first. Once she drained her victim she turned around a saw what happened. Vlad actually did it. Sure he'll probably claim he was protecting her, but he still did it.

The eyes of the man Vlad had ahold of started to close and he began to go limp. Vlad let him fall to his feet. Ingrid couldn't hear a heartbeat. He was no doubt dead.

All Ingrid could think to say was, "Wow."

Then Ingrid heard the voices of the other people who were part of the group.

"Sam! Mark! You out here?" One yelled.

"We have to burn the bodies," Ingrid told Vlad.

Vlad didn't even wait a second. He created a fire ring around them and then set the bodies on fire.

"There," he said. "Now they will just think it was an accident."

Ingrid nodded and they quickly flew away.

They stopped at a creek to wash the blood off of them although neither one had much.

Ingrid had no idea what to say. She suspected that her bother was close to forgetting about the whole 'breathers and vampires can be at peace' deal. That's why she wanted to do this. She thought it would help answer some questions. Now she just had a thousand more.

"What are you thinking?" Vlad asked.

Ingrid decided to ask the first question that came to her mind, "Did you enjoy it?"  
Vlad didn't answer right away. Ingrid noticed Vlad seemed suddenly different to her. Like something finally clicked in his brain.

"Yes, I did," Vlad finally said.

"So what then?" Ingrid asked. "You on team vamp now?"

"I'm not on anyone's team Ingrid," Vlad said. "I'm going to look out for my family. You guys are more important to me than anything."

"So what made you change your mind?" Ingrid asked.

"I saw the guy with the knife charge after you. I know he probably wouldn't have been able to cause you any real harm, but it made me think 'what if that were a slayer' and it very well could have been." Vlad's eyes turned soft for a moment.

"So this is still about protecting us?" Ingrid frowned.

"That's only part of it," Vlad said. "I realized a few months ago that breathers and vampires were never going to get along. So I was going to have to choose a side. Draco is right. The vampire race is my family, and the slayers want to destroy them. I'm not going to let that happen."

"But what about your mom and sister? And the other handful of friends that you have had that were breathers?"

"I'm not going to look at this so black and white anymore Ingrid. Of course my mom and sister are safe. So is any other human that is willing to side with us."

"So this is really happening then?" Ingrid said. "You're taking on the responsibilities of the chosen one?"

Vlad smiled and nodded, "My head is finally clear now. Thanks for that by the way."

"Oh no problem," Ingrid said. "I still get to keep my seat on the high council right?"

Vlad chuckled, "Same old Ingrid."

"Brand new Vlad," Ingrid laughed.

Then Ingrid thought of something, "So are you going to tell your mom about this?"

"Hell no!"

* * *

 **So it finally happened. I think y'all might have seen this coming. I don't think I was doing that great at hiding. I tried to drag it on so it wouldn't feel rushed. I think 23 chapters was long enough to get to this point. This is only one major plot point however. More to come.  
**


	24. Chapter 24

Jonathan was back in his lab looking through records of all the vampires they have on their wanted list. None of them looked like the one Ingrid had described. He knew that Ingrid could easily lie to him. She most likely was, but it was the only lead he had so he decided to follow it for now.

He was also looking through the records of all the known vampire leaders. Council members and clan leaders.

He had sent out a search team to find the missing slayer in the last known location. If they found him that would certainly help solve the mystery. Jonathan hoped he might still be alive, but he doubted it.

Jonathan got up from his seat and looked at the billboard he set up to display all the information they knew. He had a list of suspects, but only based on loose facts. The most likely answer was that one of the Dracula's was behind this. Maybe Ingrid herself, but there was a chance a vamp had passed through that area just on chance, but normally passerby's don't make it a thing to hide the body.

He sighed and sat back down in his chair rubbing his eyes. He hadn't slept in a while. Normally missing slayer cases don't affect him like this. Slayers go missing all the time. That's the risk they take. It's the location that makes this so interesting. The slayers are on the fence on finally making a move on the Dracula's. If they found the body and proved it was one of them then they would begin planning the attack.

Part of Jonathan hoped this it wasn't them. He had been friends with Vlad for a few years now. He didn't like the rest of the clan, but he would feel guilty to take Vlad's family from him.

Jonathan's mom says that's he's gone soft. Maybe he has. Finding out Vlad was half human didn't mean anything for him. He always viewed Vlad as a human. Just with fangs and the ability to fly.

He knew he couldn't let his personal friendships get in the way of doing the right thing. If it was the Dracula's then he would do his job. He wouldn't have a choice.

Jonathan's mom walked into the lab breaking Jonathan away from his thoughts.

"So you have any thing new for me?" She asked.

"Not quite," he said. "I'm still looking into the Dracula's like you asked. I'm also searching for the girl Ingrid described. Nothing has turn up though. Hopefully the search team will find the missing slayer."

"Don't spend all your time in here searching," Mina said. "Keep going back to the school. If the Dracula's do have anything to do with it then they will eventually show their cards."

"Alright," Jonathan agreed. "I'll head there tomorrow for a visit."

"Let me know what you find out," Mina said. "And remember to go armed."

Mina left the room without saying anything else. Jonathan missed when his mother was a lot more motherly. Ever since they became slayers she had become a whole different person. She was a soldier now.

Jonathan got up to leave the lab. He needed to get some sleep. He would continue his investigation tomorrow.

Vlad and Ingrid arrived back at the school just an hour before sunrise. When they arrived in the throne room no one was there.

Vlad laid down on the couch and stared up at the ceiling. He thought about everything that just happened. He knew he should be feeling guilty, but he didn't. He felt completely at peace with what he had just done. He realized this was only a matter of time. Had been so lost and confused the past few months. It felt good to finally had made a decision for once.

So was he a murderer now? I guess there wasn't anyway to argue that he wasn't.

Had he actually chosen a side? Yes he has. He decided that it was time to stop hiding and running. He had a responsibility to protect the ones he cared about. He finally understood what he had to protect them from. Pretty much everyone. It didn't matter if they were a vampire, werewolf, or slayer. If they were a threat then he was going to take care of it.

"So," Ingrid said. "Should we go talk to anyone about this? Piers? Dad? Your new pal Draco?"

Vlad rolled his eyes, "No, No, and he's not my pal so no."

Ingrid crossed her arms, "Why not?"

"I just want to keep this between us for now. I still have a lot to think about."

Ingrid sat down across from Vlad, "So would you want to go hunting again?"

Vlad shook his head, "Not for a while. I'll talk to you about it later."

Vlad disappeared from the room. He wanted to get some sleep.

Ingrid stayed behind. Piers walked up behind her and started massaging her shoulders.

"So how'd it go?" he asked.

Ingrid smiled, "Better than I thought."

Piers eyebrows raised, "Does that mean…"

"Yeah, he's finally opened his eyes."

Ingrid stood up from the couch, "I think we have a lot to look forward to."

"So you're going to work with Vlad?" Piers asked.

"Yeah," Ingrid said. "But only if I get what I want in the end."

"What if you don't?"

Ingrid smiled, "Then Vlad will have a strong enemy."

Piers wrapped his arms around his girlfriend, "Just be careful. Don't make an enemy that you can't handle."

"Don't worry. Vlad at least has some trust in me despite all the reasons he shouldn't. That's something that will never change about him."

"You never know," Piers smiled. "The new Vlad might surprise you."

"I'm counting on that. I need things to stay interesting around here."

"Oh I'm sure you will have plenty to be entertained by."

Piers loved Ingrid, but he knew she had a record of getting herself into situations she can't handle. She was strong, but she over estimated herself just a bit. She was on the high council though, so maybe she'll be ok.


	25. Chapter 25

Vlad woke up about 6PM that evening. He felt pretty good after last night. He had a lot more energy and his senses were more in tune. Before he didn't feel like this. Probably because all that energy went to bringing back a couple thousand year old vampire. He drank human blood in the past, but not that much.

Vlad kept waiting for the guilt to set in, but it never did. The only reason he didn't want to talk to his family about this was because Jonathan was just there asking about the missing slayer.

Vlad still considered Jonathan his friend, but he needed him to still trust him. If Jonathan found out then his whole family would be in trouble.

He was still worried about Talitha. He wanted to call her and warn her, but he was afraid that Talitha would still be upset and this wouldn't help.

Maybe he should tell Jonno that Ingrid was lying, but tell a different lie so that Talitha will be safe and Jonno still wouldn't know it was Vlad. He had to be careful though. He didn't want Jonno to become so suspicious.

Vlad was just about to leave his room, but his dad appeared next to him and started to sniff the room.

Vlad frowned, "What are you doing?"

The Count smirked, "I smell human blood on your breath."

"Huh?" Vlad raised his eyebrow.

"You and Ingrid did go hunting last night!" The Count celebrated.

"She told you," Vlad sighed.

"Was it supposed to be a secret?"

"I can't believe you told everyone about this," Vlad said. "Or maybe I can, but why?"

Ingrid was trying not to laugh, "Because, I didn't see why it needs to be kept from everyone."

"Vlad killed a breather! Vlad killed a breather!" The Count and Renfield chanted out of sync. Draco gave them an annoyed look.

"There's one reason why," Vlad said. "You just wanted to cause trouble."

"I wanted to be the one to break the news," Ingrid smiled.

Vlad shook his head and sat down at the table. Then he realized, "You didn't tell mom and George did you?"

"No. I figured I would leave that honor for you. You can tell them whenever you want."

Vlad was never going to tell them. They didn't need that.

"Why would you not want to tell them?" Ingrid asked. "Unless you did feel guilty."

"I don't feel guilty. There is no reason for them to know," Vlad said.

"They'll find out if they live here," Ingrid said. "Better it came from you right?"

"They wont find out if you shut up for once," Vlad's eyes glowed red.

"Vlad if you don't talk to them then I will," Ingrid said.

"NO!" Vlad yelled and thunder rumbled outside.

Without thinking Vlad used his powers to throw Ingrid against the wall. Piers pulled his stun gun and point it at Vlad. Draco snatched the gun and stomped on it to destroy it. The Count was at Vlad's side ready to hold him back.

Ingrid got up quickly.

"How dare you?" Her eyes were red and fangs were out.

Piers walked over to here to try and calm her down, "Ingrid?"

"Don't touch me!" She said.

Vlad pulled away from his dad's grip and was ready to attack again.

Ingrid began to lunge forward, but was stopped by Draco. He grabbed her shoulders and held her still.

The Could grabbed Vlad's arm again.

"Stop this now!" He said.

Vlad turned his head to him and relaxed a little. He still wanted to be ready in case Ingrid still tried something.

"Separate them," Draco told the Count.

The Count nodded in agreement.

"Let's go," he told Vlad. He took him to Vlad's room.

Draco sat Ingrid on the couch. He looked at Piers and Renfield, "Both of you leave."

Renfield didn't hesitate. He tried to leave but accidently hit his head on the closed door. He corrected himself and opened the door and sped out.

Piers looked at Ingrid, "You ok?"

Ingrid frowned, "I'm fine."

"I said leave breather!" Draco said.

Piers tried to stand his ground, "Not unless Ingrid wants me to."

Draco's eyes burned red, but that didn't scare Piers.

"It's ok Piers," Ingrid said. "I'll meet you in the lab in a minute."

Ingrid decided to use this opportunity to try and pick Draco's brain a little.

Draco sat next to her on the couch. His posture was perfect. He kept his back straight and hands folded. He never even crossed his legs.

"You calm now?" Draco asked.

Ingrid frowned, "I guess."

Draco handed her a glass of blood.

Ingrid took it cautiously. She really didn't want to talk to him, but she knew she had to if she was going to get answers.

"Why do you antagonize you brother?" Draco asked.

"So you're our parent now?" Ingrid said.

"I'm just trying to help this family get along. If you took that anger you all have and directed towards the real enemy then you would be an unstoppable force."

"Why do you care so much? Or better yet, what's in it for you? What are you after?"

Draco smiled, "What any vampire wants."

Ingrid gave a fake smile, "Power."

Draco nodded, "Yes, but I'm not willing to make an enemy of everyone to get it. You have to have some allies."

Ingrid frowned. She didn't want to be manipulated again.

"Go on," she said.

"I watched my family break apart already, and it destroyed us. If you and your brother can't get along then you will just destroy each other. You will gain nothing."

"So what? You're going to help bring the family together. What us rise to power and then take if from us?"

She shouldn't have said that. She was still a bit angry over what just happened and it was affecting her thought process, but it was too late to take that back now.

"Is that what you all think I'm trying to do?" Draco asked.

"It's the only thing that makes sense," Ingrid said.

Draco was silent for a moment.

Crap, Ingrid thought. She was giving him information. She was supposed to be getting information from him. Why was she so careless? She was never like this.

"What are you hoping to gain by helping us?" Ingrid tried to regain control of the conversation.

"I told you," he said.

"Yes, but what sort of power exactly?"

"Whatever it looks like. When Vlad takes control that will be up to him."

"There is no way you would be ok with going from one of the most powerful Vampires to being Vlad's servant."

Draco chuckled, "Well you might not be able to believe it, but I'm being honest. I'm not looking to double-cross anyone."

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "I know you are up to something. I'm not ever going to trust you. We met your brother and he was a psycho."

"I'm different from my brother."

"Yeah, you're smarter than he was," Ingrid said. "But you probably have very similar goals."

"You can think that all you want, but I'm only here to help."

"We don't need your help. We never asked for it."

"But you do. It's amazing you all lasted this long."

Ingrid gave him an evil glare, "I don't believe anything you say."

"Why not? Have I done anything that made you think you can't trust me."

Ingrid suddenly had an idea, "If you're so honest, tell me why that necklace glows when you talk to it."

Draco didn't say anything for a moment.

"Thought so," Ingrid got up to leave.

"Hold on," Draco said.

He stood up and removed the necklace, "I'll tell you, but keep this between us. Don't tell everyone the minute you get the chance just like you did to Vlad."

Ingrid nodded in agreement.

"I use it to communicate," Draco said.

"With who?" Ingrid said.

"My sister."

"Why couldn't you have done this years ago?" the Count said as he paced back and forth across the room. "What finally changed your mind? Why Ingrid? Why did you never want to listen to me?"

The Count just went on and on while Vlad sat there with his head in his hands. He really didn't want to deal with him, but he didn't think his dad would leave him alone until he spoke.

"It has nothing to do with you," Vlad said.

"Then what then?" The Count said.

"That person was about to attack Ingrid while her back was turned.

"So? It's not like it would have killed her."

Vlad rolled his eyes, "No dad. I mean that is what got my attention. Everyone will always be out to get us no matter what I do. I'm tired of us always having to hide. Sure we could make a friend or two, but the slayers are never going to change and neither are the vampires."

"I told you this years ago," the Count laughed. "Why couldn't you listen then?"

"I didn't want to."

"Well thank you for finally getting on the same page as the rest of us," the count said.

"It's not that simple dad," Vlad said.

The Count groaned, "What now?"

"It's not about vampires verses slayers anymore. It's about who's with us or who wants to kill us. Yes that is primarily slayers, but there are many vampires out there that want your head," Vlad explained.

"So what you what to get rid of them both? That's extreme isn't it?"

"No," Vlad shook his head. "There are slayers like Jonno who are friends with us. There are Vampires like half the high council who hate us. If people or groups of people want to work with us then we work with them. If they don't then we fight them. The longer we sort this out the more clear it will be who the real enemy is."

The Count thought about it for a moment, "So you are sure about the way you want to go about this?"

"I am," Vlad said.

"So what about hunting for sport? How do you feel about that?" The Count always had his priorities straight.

"In certain circumstances."

"What does that mean?" The Count asked.

Vlad thought about it for a moment, "I'm not sure quite yet."

The Count dropped his head.

Vlad smiled, "But I'm willing to experiment on it for a while till have a clear answer."


	26. Chapter 26

Draco called another house meeting to discuss everything that happened. Everyone was there including Sally and George who still had no clue what happened last night.

Everyone sat at the dinning table except Renfield and Jessica the half-fang who were stand against the wall, and the Count who sat on his throne.

"So is everyone calm now?" Draco asked.

No one answered.

"Good. Now lets all try and have a civil conversation. Everyone here needs learn to get along or were not going to get anywhere."

"If Ingrid didn't always push everyone's buttons then we would be fine," Vlad said.

"And if you didn't overreact then we wouldn't have to be sitting here right now," Ingrid argued.

"Enough!" The Count yelled. Thunder rumbled. "Be quite and listen."

"Thank you Count," Draco said. "The breather has suggested that we preform a small test.

"My name is Piers."

"It doesn't matter," Draco said. "Just tell them what you need them to do."

Piers rolled his eyes and stood up, "Now I know you are a little old fashioned, but breathers have an interest in psychology. You all use it to manipulated people."

Piers scrolled through his laptop, "I found an exercise online that I would like for you all to try. The goal is to look at someone and say one nice memory of that person. I'll start."

Piers of course looked at Ingrid, "Ingrid a nice memory I have of you is when you first took me hunting with you. I was deeply disturbed, but I had a lot of fun."

Piers sat down, "Now Ingrid pick someone else and say a nice memory you had with them."

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "Fine then. I pick…George."

George looked up from her Nintendo surprised, "Me?"

"My memory of you is when I kicked you out of my room," Ingrid smiled.

"That's not a nice memory," George complained.

"It was for me."

"Alright, lets move on," Piers said. "And let's be sure to pick memories that were nice for everyone. George it's your turn."

"Ok, I pick mom," George said. "I remember when you handed me a can of purple paint and told me to use my hands to paint one of your sculptures."

Sally laughed, "And you turned to me in the middle of it and got paint on me."

They both laughed at the memory for a moment. There well a couple smiles around the room after hearing that. Mostly from Vlad and Piers.

"Sally?" Piers said.

"Alright I pick Count," She said.

The Count suddenly looked up interested.

"The night we met in Whitby. I was going through a rough time and you helped me through it. We went to this little café and had some pie and wine. For obvious reasons it wouldn't workout after that one weekend, but it was good to have a friend."

The Count smiled, "Thank you Sally. I choose Vlad."

"Of course," Ingrid said. Everyone just ignored her.

"I never told you this story and you wouldn't remember it," the Count began. "It was when I first took you from the hospital. Before I took you home I promised you that I would take care of everything and no one would ever have to find out. I know I didn't keep the promise, but it was a nice memory that I have of you."

"Wow," George said. "Never you could be so deep."

"I have my moments," said the Count.

"Thanks for trying dad," Vlad said. "I know you did what you could. Ingrid?"

Everyone was all ears for this one.

"Remember the Branagh twins?"

Ingrid bad a sick sound, "Why do you have to remind me of those idiots?"

"But do you remember the time we decided to pull a prank on them? They were picking on Robin and you were fed up with them?"

"Right! And we stuffed their lockers with snakes and recorded the whole thing on the Branagh's video camera?"

Vlad laughed, "They were so scared they didn't even move. They started crying whenever they started crawling up their legs."

Vlad and Ingrid continued to laugh.

"Isn't that a little dangerous though?" George asked.

"No," Vlad said. "They were a tame breed."

"I wonder if breather boy still has that Video," Ingrid laughed referring to Robin.

"I don't know, but that was a fun day," Vlad said.

"Ok I think we are done now," Piers said.

"But I didn't get a turn," Renfield whined.

"No one cares," said the Count.

"Alright," Sally said. "I George and I will head to bed now. Have a goodnight."

"Goodnight," Vlad said.

Once they shut the door Draco stood up.

"Now that the tension has finally died down we can talk about more important things," Draco said. "Vlad I understand that you want to keep your mother from knowing about last night. Everyone here will respect that if you want."

Vlad shook his head, "Yeah, they don't need to know about this."

"Then they wont," Draco said. "Now if this is ok with the Count I would like to train with Vlad every night."

"Every night?" Vlad said.

"Yes, you have a lot to learn."

The Count nodded, "You have my permission. Provided I come along every once in a while."

"I don't get a say in this?" Vlad asked.

"You agreed to do as I said," Draco reminded him. "I'm doing what's best for you."

Vlad wondered if his morals still included keeping promises…damn it, it's still there, Vlad thought.

"Can I make one request at least?" Vlad asked.

"You can," Draco said.

"I spend time with my mom and sister before they go to bed each night. Then we train."

Draco thought about it, "Alright, I believe that's fair. Ingrid, when is the next high council meeting?"

"A week from tonight," Ingrid said. "They normally last through the weekend. Longer if needed."

"Keep us all updated on everything they discuss," Draco said.

Ingrid nodded in agreement which surprised Vlad. Since when does she take orders?

"Count, I would like to speak with you alone for a minute," Draco said.

"So are we done here then?" Vlad asked. He was starting to get irritated again and he wasn't sure why.

"One more thing," Draco said. "I know you all find it hard to trust me. So if you need to test me for me to earn that trust then so be it. But tonight I would like sometime to myself. I can only handle being around you people for so long."

That's when they heard a knock on the door.

"Expecting anyone?" the Count said.

Piers started typing on his computer. He pulled up a window that streamed video from the security cameras.

He cracked a smile, "It's your slayer buddy."

Vlad frowned, "What's he doing back here?"

"Doesn't matter. Just get rid of him, " the Count said.

That Count stood up to leave, "Actually, since you're on our team now Vlad you could get rid of him for good."

Vlad rolled his eyes, "No dad."

"One step at a time I suppose," the Count walked out the door and Draco followed him.

"You going to stick around for this one?" Vlad asked Ingrid.

"Not this time," she said. "Come on Piers."

Piers closed his laptop and followed Ingrid out the throne room.

Vlad disappeared from the room and reappeared in the foyer. He open the door to let Jonathan in.

"Hey Jonno," Vlad said. "What are you doing back here?"

Jonathan walked in and smiled, "I just have more questions about the missing slayer."

"You still haven't found him yet?"

Jonathan shook his head, "Well I just got a call from my team. We found the body."


	27. Chapter 27

Vlad made sure to not show any expression on his face that would give anything away.

"Where did you find him?" Vlad asked.

"In the forest near here like we suspected," Jonathan replied. "His body was almost completely burnt. Wasn't a pretty sight."

Vlad pretended to look curious, "So what are you thinking then?"

"Well we are still searching for the vamp that Ingrid described, but no luck yet. But I wanted to talk to you about something. It does look bad that we found the body where we did. The Guild is going to be watching your family."

Vlad frowned, "And if they believe it was Ingrid or my dad, what would the Guild do?"

Jonathan put a hand on Vlad's shoulder, "Vlad, you know what they're going to do."

Vlad pulled away, "It wasn't them."

"You're sure?" Jonathan asked

"Yes, I've been with them this entire time. They were always here the last couple weeks."

Jonathan nodded, "Well that's good then. I'll let the Guild know."

Jonathan turned to leave, "Oh and if you guys learn anything more about the vamp that Ingrid saw let me know."

"Will do," Vlad said.

Jonathan walked out the door and to his car. He got in and sighed. Vlad was lying to him. As soon as Vlad started to talk Jonathan's training kicked in. His voice changed tone just slightly in the middle of the sentence.

Vlad wasn't just trying to turn the investigation away from his family. He knew exactly who murdered the slayer. He didn't blame Vlad for wanting to protect his family, but he's never lied to him before. Vlad looked almost threatened by him.

He seemed a bit off the past two visits. Something is different. Jonathan thought that he was just being paranoid, but normally his instincts were right. Someone in that house was responsible for the murder of Christopher the slayer.

* * *

Vlad wasn't sure if Jonathan bought his lie. He would probably be back to question them again. He knew that the slayers were stubborn. He just wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up. They were going to find out. Jonathan wasn't an idiot. He didn't know how he was going to handle this. For once he had no plan. Not even half a plan. He knew that he needed to get him mom and George to a safe place. It would be best to start there.

Vlad went to the guest room where his father was staying and let himself in. The Count was sitting at his desk looking through an old book.

"What's that?" Vlad asked.

His father quickly closed the book and stood up, "Do you ever knock anymore?"

Vlad rolled his eyes, "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," The Count said.

Vlad folded his arms.

"Fine," the Count sighed. "I was looking up the history of the first Vampire family. We don't have much on them, but it can't hurt to look into it."

Vlad laughed, "You're actually doing some work?"

The Count tilted his head, "Are you calling me lazy?"

Vlad nodded, "Yes. Because you are."

The Count didn't respond to that.

"What are you looking to find anyway?" Vlad asked.

"Remember the story Draco told us about his siblings? How some of them just disappeared and he never heard from them again?"

"Yeah," Vlad said.

"They are immortal just like us," the Count said. "What if they are still out there just like he is here."

Vlad's eyes grew wide, "They could return just like he did."

The Count clapped his hands together, "Exactly, and they could be a threat to us."

"So what should we do?" Vlad asked.

The Count shrugged, "I don't know. I did my part." The Count put his feet up on his desk.

Vlad frowned, "I can't do this on my own. I have a hundred other things to be worrying about."

"Fine," the Count stood up. "I'll talk to Draco, but you better be doing something to. No laying around."

Vlad rolled his eyes, "I should be telling you that."

Vlad sat down in the other chair next to his dad and closed his eyes to think.

"So what did the slayer want?" The Count asked.

Vlad opened his eyes a little, "They found the slayers body. I think he believes either you or Ingrid is involved in the slayers death. He knows something is up at least."

"So what are you going to do?" The Count asked.

"Get mom and George out of here. I don't want them to be involved with this."

"And then what?"

"I have no idea."

The Count stood up and walked to his mini fridge. He came back with a bottle of blood and handed it to Vlad, "Drink."

Vlad didn't argue. He took the bottle and drank a couple sips. It tasted a bit different then normal blood though.

"There is alcohol in it," the Count said. "I drink it whenever I'm stressed."

Vlad laughed, "What do you ever get stressed about?"

"Lots of things."

Vlad and his father sat in silence for a few moments. The Count returned to reading his book while Vlad sat and drank the blood his father gave him.

Eventually the Count looked up again and saw Vlad take another sip.

"That's a sight I never thought I would see," he said.

Vlad couldn't help but smile, "Not something I ever thought I would do."

The Count didn't say anything.

"Growing up I wanted to do everything that would make me feel normally. Honestly this is the most normal I have felt."

The Count leaned back in his seat, "That's because drinking blood is completely natural for a vampire."

"That's just it though," Vlad said. "I'm half-human. Knowing that I understood why I was the way I was when I was a kid. And I was so sure I wanted to be human. I know I've changed my mind over the past year, but I can't even tell you why I have."

The Count chuckled, "I can tell you why. You may be half-human, but on your eighteenth birthday you made the choice to be a Vampire or human. Trust me Vlad. After you made that choice you became full Vampire that changed everything. You aren't half-human anymore. The only connection left you have with that is your mother and sister. You're just finally accepting that."

"You knew this was going to happen all along," Vlad said.

"Well at times I had my doubts," The Count said. "But yes, I knew."

A part of Vlad knew too. He had fought this his whole life, but he knew all along that it was pointless in the end.

"So what do you want to do about the slayers?" The Count asked.

"I don't know," Vlad said.

"Yes you do," the Count said.

Vlad thought about it for a moment, "I have considered Jonathan a friend for the past few years now, but I know he will turn on me in an instant when he finds out it was me who killed the slayer."

The Count raised his eyebrow, "He'll come after all of us."

"I know," Vlad agreed. "He is still my friend. I think I can reason with him, but if he does turn then I'll take care of it."

"You'll kill him?" the Count asked.

"Whatever I have to do to keep my family safe," Vlad said.

The Count smiled, "Good."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Please review and I'll have another chapter up soon.  
**


	28. Chapter 28

It had been a week since Vlad had talked to Jonno. He was still worried about the investigation, but figured if he asked VanHelsing any questions then it would just make him look even more guilty. Ingrid, Piers, and the Count were all doing their own research on Draco and the necklace while Vlad continued to train with Draco every night. Vlad was surprised that he was actually learning from him. He was improving a lot in just that week. Vlad also made time to hang out with his mother and sister every evening before they went to bed. Things seemed to be going great so far, that was until Vlad and Ingrid went out hunting together again.

This time they were in the city about an hour from the school, and Ingrid had more than just hunting planned for the night.

"You know a lot of these stores are open until midnight, and if you are going to be one of us vampires you should start dressing like one," Ingrid looked disgusted at Vlad's normal looking clothes.

Vlad rolled his eyes, "I'm fine with the way I dress."

"Well I'm not," Ingrid.

"I don't want to dress in all black and leather like you," Vlad argued.

"Relax. I have great taste and can find you something that you would like."

"I'm not interested in going on a shopping spree with you."

"Fine. I'll just come back some other night and bring you back something."

Before Vlad could respond a bat appeared in front of them and transformed. In it's place stood his ex-girlfriend.

"What are you doing here breather lover?" Ingrid hissed.

Talitha ignored her, "Vlad! You need to get home. Choden is coming."

"Who's Choden?" Ingrid asked.

"He's a monk from one of the temples Talitha and I visited," Vlad answered quickly. "Why is he coming here, Talitha? What did you tell him?"

"Nothing," Talitha said. "He just found me when I was with my father and started asking me a lot of questions about you, but I didn't tell him anything. All I told him was that we broke up."

"Why is he coming here?" Vlad asked.

"He said he knows about you going back on your oath."

"What happens if you break an oath?" Ingrid asked.

"They give you a chance to admit what you've done and show remorse," Talitha explained. "If you do then they will take you back and put you in rehabilitation."

"And if you don't show remorse?" Ingrid asked.

"Then they stake you," Talitha finished.

Ingrid grabbed her brother by the shoulders and shook him, "Why would you agree to this?"

"You know why I did, but I didn't think they would actually follow through on their threat."

Talitha frowned, "Why would you think they wouldn't?"

"Because they are always preaching about peace and forgiveness. Execution didn't seem to fit that agenda."

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "Do we have a chance to fight this?"

"Well the temple knows Vlad is the Chosen One so I think they will keep that in mind when they come," Talitha explained.

"We need to get back to the school then," Ingrid said.

* * *

When they returned Ingrid, Vlad and Talitha made their way to the lab.

Piers looked confused at seeing Talitha, "I thought you were gone."

"I won't be around for long trust me," Talitha said.

"So why are you here?" Piers asked. Before anyone could respond Piers quickly said, "Are the slayers coming after you?"

Talitha frowned, "Why would they be coming after me?"

"Forget what he said," Vlad said. "Piers, there's a group of religious vampires on their way. We need to get my mom and sister out of here and come up with a plan."

"What are they coming for?" Piers asked.

"Vlad," Ingrid and Talitha said in unison.

Piers sighed, "Why is it always you?"

Ingrid pushed her brother out of the way, "Look they could be here any second. We can't waste any time. Find a location for Vlad's family and we will worry about the monks."

Piers nodded and grabbed his backpack full of weapons and gadgets, "Once I move George and Sally what should I do."

"You can come back here," Talitha said. "They won't hurt you. They are peaceful vamps."

"Then why hide the others?" Piers asked.

"Because I don't want them to find out what I've done. The monks are coming to execute me," Vlad said.

Piers' eyes were wide, "Peaceful monks you say?"

"Just go Piers," Vlad's tone changed.

Piers left the room to wake Sally and George.

"So what now?" Ingrid asked.

Vlad thought for a moment. He didn't want this but he had no intention on going with the vampire monks, "Prepare for a fight."

"No!" Talitha argued. "This is your problem. You can't drag your family down with you. Besides this group has a large following. Even if you did win everyone would know and you would make a lot of enemies."

"How many tree hugging vampires could there be?" Ingrid laughed.

"It's not just vampires," Talitha continued. "The entire slayers guild has a treaty with them."

"You think they would back them?" Ingrid asked.

"I know they would. The slayers would all know that Vlad is against the temple and would believe that he was also against the Guild," Talitha said.

"That's a stretch," Ingrid said.

"Slayers believe what they want. Half of them still don't trust Vlad."

"But why do you care?" Vlad asked. "Why do you want to help us?"

"Our relationship may be over, but that doesn't mean I want to see a war happen," Talitha said. "You may not care anymore, but I will still do everything I can to keep peace."

"Then what do you think we should do then?" Vlad asked.

"You talk to them," Talitha said. "If they urge for you to go with them then you go."

Vlad shook his head, "That's not an option."

"Why not?" Talitha growled. "You made an oath and broke it."

"I never wanted to take that oath!" Vlad argued. "You wouldn't stop going on and on about it."

"But you did! You made a promise to never harm anyone for any reason!"

"Why did you even come to warn me if you just want me captured and killed?"

"I don't want to see you killed. I want you to be rehabilitated."

"Well neither one of those things are going to happen."

Ingrid stepped between the two of them, "Enough! This is pointless. You two can argue later, but we need to do something. Vlad, I know you don't want to be captured and we will avoid that, but Talitha does have a point."

"She does?" Vlad asked.

"I do?" Talitha asked.

"We can't let the slayers find out you turned," Ingrid said. "They will come after all of us."

"Well I know that," Vlad said.

"Then we can't pick a fight with these guys. They have to start the fight with us. That way we can make it look like we were the innocent ones."

"How are you going to do that?" Talitha laughed. "They are going to take Vlad and if you or anyone else steps in the way then you are at fault."

"Not if it was a breather who tried to stop them," Ingrid continued.

Vlad figured out what Ingrid was planning, "We have Piers stand in the way. They won't harm him. If they do then they would be breaking the oath."

"One breather won't be enough though," Talitha said.

"Piers has many different weapons he can use," Ingrid said. "It will be enough."

"It's worth a shot," Vlad said.

"Alright, but I'm not going to be part of this," Talitha said. "I've done my part and it looks like I'm not going to be able to convince you to go peacefully. But do me a favor and don't tell them I was here."

"We won't tell them," Vlad said. "Thanks for the warning."

Talitha nodded, "Consider it an olive branch. This is you last chance to do the right thing."

"Talitha, I made my choice," Vlad said.

"Well you can change your mind," Talitha said. "Go with them and start rehab."

Vlad nodded, "I can't."

Talitha sighed, "What would your mother say if she knew?"

"She's not going to know," Vlad said.

"Yes she will," Talitha said. "You know she is going to find out. And you know when she does it will break her heart."

"You wouldn't tell her," Vlad said.

"No. I won't have to. The fact that you are keeping this a secret from her means that you do still feel guilt."

"That's not the reason," Vlad said. "I just don't want to hurt her. But if she did know that wouldn't change anything."

"I'm sure," Talitha said sarcastically. "Good luck with everything. You still have a chance to make the right decision."

Talitha transformed and flew out the window.

"She still loves you," Ingrid said.

"I know," Vlad said still looking out the window.

"Do you still love her?" Ingrid asked.

Vlad thought about it, "I don't think I ever did." He turned and looked his sister in the eye. "Come on, we need to tell dad and Draco."


	29. Chapter 29

Piers was in Sally and George's room helping them gather their things.

"How long will we be gone?" George asked.

"We don't know yet," Piers responded. "Hopefully not long."

"Where are we going?" George continued to ask questions.

"Not now George," Sally cut in. "You can ask more questions when we get in the car."

Piers opened the bedroom door and lead the two of them out. They got to the van and threw their things in. George got in the back and Sally sat up front with Piers. Piers started the van and drove away from the school.

He only got a couple miles away and his phone rang. He answered and Ingrid spoke.

"Ok," Piers said. "Got it. I'll see you in a few." Piers hung up the phone.

"What did she say," Sally asked.

"Ingrid said to get you to a hotel. There's one a few miles down here. After that I need to go back."

"What?!" George asked. "Vampires are coming! Isn't it dangerous?"

"I'll be fine," Piers said. "What's important is that you two get away."

Sally put her hand on Piers' shoulder, "Piers, what aren't you telling us?"

Piers sighed, "It's complicated."

Sally sat back, "Is Vlad going to be ok?"

Piers smiled, "He'll be fine."

Piers kept his eyes on the road and prayed that he was right.

* * *

Ingrid and Vlad found Draco and the Count in the basement. The Count had been showing Draco all the weapons he had collected over the years. He was holding an old ax.

Vlad tried to interrupt them, "Dad.."

He dad put his hand up, "One moment. I'm talking. Now where was I?"

Ingrid snatched the ax from him and threw it aside, "Stop with the stories! A group of vampires is coming to kill your son!"

Draco looked at Vlad, "What?"

"We will explain, but right now we need your help," Vlad said.

* * *

Everyone gathered into the living room including Renfield and Ingrid's half-fangs. It wasn't just Jessica. There were two other half-fangs that Vlad has seen around, but never bothered to ask about. All three were dressed the same. Black tank tops, blue jeans and leather jackets.

Vlad told everyone what he told Ingrid. He mentioned Talitha was the one who warned him, but asked that none of them said anything and they agreed.

"So what do you want do then?" Draco asked.

The Count stood from his throne," What we always do. Run."

Ingrid rolled her eyes, "I'm tired of running. We need to fight back and Vlad agrees with me."

Everyone looked at him surprised, "Well yeah, but we actually have a plan for that."

Vlad explained their plan using Piers to try and get the monks to fight back, "Whether they decided to fight us or leave us alone will be up to them. Either way we will come out looking like the good guys."

"You talk as if it would be easy to win against them in a fight," Draco said. "There are eight vampires here and one breather."

"Talitha mentioned that they will come with me being the chosen one in mind," Vlad said. "I think their leader, Choden, will come and four others. Most of the people that are at the temple never leave and he wouldn't want to bring any young vamps in case this were to become a fight. He'll want to avoid that though."

"So why just five of them?" Jessica asked. Draco gave her an evil look and so did Ingrid. But Vlad didn't mind that she wanted to talk. He had some sympathy for her having to be Ingrid's half-fang.

"Because Choden has four friends that he's really close to and trusts," Vlad explained. "They are also pretty strong. I've seen them use their powers. They may be a peaceful group, but they even know they should always be ready just in case."

"The more you talk about them the less I believe they're peaceful," Ingrid said.

Vlad shrugged his shoulders, "I never really trusted them. I just went along with whatever Talitha wanted."

Vlad realized that it was his fault his family in danger again. This was the opposite of what he wanted, "I'm sorry."

"There is no need to apologize," Draco said. "Things like this are bound to happen. It's the family's job to help you."

"Besides it's not like dad hasn't gotten us in trouble hundreds of times," Ingrid laughed.

The Count ignored her, "So what's our plan then."

"We do what Vlad and Ingrid suggested," Draco said. "We meet them in the courtyard and talk this out."

Renfield whimpered, "I'm not sure I like this plan."

"Then you can stand in front of me as my shield if things turn bad," the Count said.

"While we wait maybe you should tell us everything you know about their powers," Draco suggested.

Vlad nodded and told them everything he knew.

* * *

Piers helped Sally and George check into a hotel and got them settled.

"Alright," he said. "I'm going back to the school. I'll be back. Here's my number in case you all need anything."

Piers ran out the door and to his van.

Sally looked at her daughter, "I'm going with him."

"What?" George looked worried.

"I'll be fine. Just stay here and don't answer the door to anyone."

George nodded and Sally kissed her on the forehead before following Piers.

Piers backed out and put the van in drive. He moved just a couple feet forward before Sally ran out in front of him.

He slammed the break to avoid hitting her, "Dear God!"

Sally ran over to the passenger window. Piers rolled it down for her.

"I'm coming back with you," Sally said.

"Ms. Sally I don't think that's a good idea," Piers argued.

Sally opened the door and got in, "Piers, you won't tell me what's going on so I know something is seriously wrong. He's my son. I wasn't there for him growing up. Let me be there for him now."

Piers didn't know what to do, "Let me make a phone call."

Ingrid's phone rang. She answered it. "What?!" She yelled. "No she can't come here."

Vlad snatched the phone from her, "Piers what's going on."

Piers explained that Sally wanted to come back and was being very stubborn.

Vlad groaned, "Fine. Do what she asks, but take her straight into the throne room. I'll talk to her."

Vlad hung up the phone and handed it back to Ingrid, "She's coming back."

"Damn that woman," the Count said.

"What are you going to do?" Ingrid asked.

"Convince her to stay up here," Vlad said. "Hope she listens. We can't do anything else."

Suddenly Vlad froze and fell on the couch. He managed to not pass out but he felt weak.

"Vlady?" the Count looked concerned. He sat next to him and helped support him.

Vlad snapped out of it and looked at his dad, "I had a vision." He looked at everyone else, "They're almost here. Not even thirty minutes away."


	30. Chapter 30

Jonathan and six other slayers were driving around about twenty minutes from the school. They were picking up a lot of unusual activity around the area.

"Pull over here," Jonathan said.

They stopped on the side of the road and all got out of the van. One of the slayers carried a radar.

"I'm picking up one vamp on the radar sir," said a female slayer named Carla.

"Just one?" said Jonathan, "Should be many more based on the information we had earlier."

"Do you want to follow the source sir?" Carla asked.

"Yeah, might be the vamp that killed the slayer."

They walked about two miles.

"Have your stun guns out just in case," Jonno said.

Everyone followed his command. Jonno continued to walk into the forest area following the signal. Finally they were just steps from it. He heard a whimper.

"Is that someone crying?" one slayer asked.

Jonno didn't answer. He kept walking until he found someone sitting on a stump.

It was a girl with brown hair and green clothing. She looked a lot like the girl Ingrid described.

"Miss?" Jonno said.

She looked up surprised. She must have been really distracted to not sense them coming.

"What do you want?" She asked.

Jonno put his weapon away, "My name is Jonathan VanHelsing from the Slayers Guild."

"Oh," was all she said.

"Would you mind coming with us? We just want to ask you a few questions."

The girl stood up and looked suddenly defensive, "Why?"

Jonathan tried to stay calm. He realized this girl was a vampire, but he didn't want to stake her right away. He needed to be sure everything Ingrid told him was the truth.

"We aren't going to harm you. We just want to talk," Jonno continued.

"Just leave me alone," the girl begged.

One of the slayers had managed to get behind her and fired their stun gun.

The vampire fell to the ground unable to move.

"We're taking you in for the murder of a slayer," Jonno said.

"Should we take her back to the Guild?" Carla asked.

"No," Jonno said. "Let's take her to the school to confirm something first."

They but the girl into the van and headed toward Garside.

* * *

Everyone changed into their battle uniform. They wanted to prepare for the worst. Vlad hardly ever wore his cape but did tonight. He made the decision to stand with his family. He wanted to make that point clear to everyone. He had no idea what was going to happen. Not just tonight, but the next few years. Everything was changing. He had no idea who he could trust, but he at least knew what he wanted. He wanted to project his family. The rest he would figure out later.

Everyone was sitting in the throne room waiting. Choden and his followers would be here any moment. Piers and Sally had arrived just in time.

Vlad lead her to the guest room she had been staying in and closed the room.

"Why did you come back?" Vlad asked.

"I want to know what's happening," Sally said.

"Mom, now is not a good time," Vlad said heading for the door.

Sally stood in front of him, "Tell me. Please."

Vlad didn't know what to do. Sally was genuinely concerned for him. He had to tell her the truth even if it hurt her.

* * *

Ingrid looked out the window. "They're here," she announced. "Waiting in the courtyard."

The Count nodded, "Get Vlad."

Ingrid sped away to find him. She knocked on the door of the guest room.

"Vlad?" She called.

Inside Vlad sat next to his mom on the bed. She hadn't said a word after he told her why the monks were coming.

"Vlad? They're here," Ingrid called again.

"I'll be right out," Vlad said.

Ingrid left them and joined everyone else outside.

"Mom?" Vlad said. "Say something please?"

Sally continued to stay silent and stared at her hands.

"It's ok if you want to leave, but please wait until they are gone. I'll have Piers come and get you when it's over."

Vlad left and closed the door. He let out a breath and hung his head. He couldn't believe he just told her that. He was scared that she would never talk to him again, but he couldn't focus on that now. He had to take care of something else.

* * *

Outside Draco, the Count, Ingrid, and all the half-fangs stood facing the monks. Piers stood in the archway waiting for Ingrid's signal.

"Where's your son Count Dracula?" Choden asked. He wore a long tan robe with a green rope tired around him. The others were dressed similarly.

Vlad had been right. There were five of them. Draco realized Vlad was more observant than he thought.

"He'll be out in a moment," the Count replied with his arms crossed.

No one spoke for a while.

"So how was the trip?" the Count said awkwardly.

Vlad appeared next to his family, "What's up?"

Choden frowned, "You know why we're here. Come with us."

"I don't think so," Vlad smirked.

"Do not challenge us. Come with us."

"Or what?" Vlad asked.

"Stop with this game," Choden growled.

"I won't go. You'll have to make me," Vlad said.

Choden sighed, "I always knew you would be trouble."

Choden gestured towards the vampire standing next to him. The vamp pulled out a pair of fangcuffs.

Ingrid grew tense ready to fight. Draco put his hand on her shoulder, "Easy."

Piers saw the signal and prepared to fire his gun. But then something unexpected happened.

"Stop!" Sally called from the side door. She ran over and got in between Vlad and the monks.

"Leave him alone," Sally said.

"Ma'am, this has nothing to do with you," said Choden.

"He's my son," Sally argued. "Don't you dare do anything to him."

Vlad was so shocked that he didn't know what to say. He looked at his family for help, but they looked as surprised as he was.

Choden laughed, "What? That's not possible. You're human."

No one spoke.

The smile fell from his face, "The Chosen one is Dimidius?"

"No he's not," the Count stepped in. "He's a Vampire."

"But is she not his biological mother?" Choden asked. "I can certainly see the resemblance."

No one knew what to do. And to make matters worse a black van pulled in and out of it can Jonathan and a handful of slayer. With them was Talitha. They had her in fangcuffs.

"What's this?" Draco asked.

Jonathan looked surprised to see so many vampires in one place, "We just came to talk. Sorry if now is a bad time."

"You couldn't have picked a worse time," the Count said.

Piers ran over with a gun in hand with a worried look on his face, "Sorry I wasn't sure what I should do."

"None of us do," Ingrid rolled her eyes.

Choden stared at Talitha, "Why do you have this girl in chains?"

"She's a prisoner," Jonathan explained. "We are going to question her for the murder of one of our own."

"I didn't murder anyone," Talitha said.

"She's telling the truth," Choden said. "Talitha is loyal to the temple. She has not broken our code."

"What are you talking about?" Jonathan said.

Choden explain that he was the head of the temple that sought peace with all humans.

"Oh yeah," Jonathan said. "I remember you guys now. So how do you know this vampire is loyal?"

"Because I have the ability to see if any of our own could betray us," Choden said.

Vlad started to panic. There was nothing he could do to stop what was about to happen.

"Well if you have that ability could you tell us who killed our friend," Jonathan said.

"Of course," Choden said. "It was this young one here." Choden pointed to Vlad.

Shit! Vlad thought.

Jonathan frowned, "What?! I'm sorry sir, but I think your abilities are a little confused. Vlad is the most gentle vampire I know."

Choden laughed, "Really? Well why don't you ask him yourself."

Jonathan looked right into Vlad's eyes and waited for his response.

Vlad wanted to lie. Or even say he was under the influence of Draco at the time, but he knew that wouldn't fly. He was trapped.

"Yeah," Vlad said. "It was me."

Jonathan's expression was unreadable, "Why?"

Before Vlad could respond Sally ran up to Choden and smacked him in the face.

"How dare you throw him under the bus?!" she screamed.

Vlad pulled his mother back, "Mom please calm down."

Choden held his face and smiled, "Since you won't come with us for rehabilitation then our next option would be execution, but I suppose that would probably cause problems for us if people were to find out we killed the Chosen One. I'll leave you to the slayers instead."

Choden faced the slayers, "May we take our friend Talitha with us?"

Jonathan signaled to the slayers to release her. Talitha rubbed her wrists where the fangcuffs used to be.

She walked up to Vlad, "I'm sorry." Was all she said before disappearing with the monks.

Jonathan stared at Vlad for what felt like an eternity.

"So are you going to even try to explain yourself?" Jonathan said. "Or even apologize?"

Vlad decided it was best to stay silent.

Jonathan turned around and kicked the van in anger, "You were supposed to be the one to end all this! You were a friend! My friend!"

"Jonathan…" Vlad didn't know what to do to calm him down.

Vlad then heard a voice coming from his head. It was Draco, "Vlad you know what you have to do. This has gone too far."

Vlad sent him a message back, "I can't. Not in front of mom."

"She knows," Draco argued. "It won't matter."

"I can't let her see me like that."

"Vlad!" Ingrid yelled to get his attention.

While Vlad was distracted Jonathan had pointed an old fashioned gun that fired garlic bullets. Jonathan pointed it to Vlad and fired without hesitation.

Everything happened in slow motion. Vlad was about to move out of the way, but his mother stepped in front of the bullet. It her right in the chest. It may have been meant for Vampires but it appeared as if it could also harm a human.

She fell to the ground.

Vlad grabbed his mother before she could hit the pavement. "Oh my god…" he whispered.

Jonathan stood in shock.

Ingrid bent down next to him and tried to help stop the bleeding.

Sally was coughing up blood uncontrollably.

One of the slayers grabbed Jonathan and pulled him to the van. They drove away and were gone in a second.

Ingrid and Vlad continued to work on Sally.

Vlad looked at Draco, "Do something!"

"Vlad there isn't anything we can do," he said in a sympathetic tone.

Vlad started to panic, but was calmed by him mother reaching to touch his face.

She wasn't able to speak, but she managed a smile.

She was gone.

* * *

 **It's not over yet. Still have a bit more to go.  
**


	31. Chapter 31

No one knew what to do. Everyone just stared at Sally's body.

"Vlad?" Ingrid said.

Vlad breathed heavily, "Why did she come out here? Why did she jump in front of me?" Tears started to run down his face.

"She was trying to protect you," Ingrid tried to comfort him.

"She didn't have to!" Vlad yelled. "I can take a hit!"

Ingrid tried to put her hand on Vlad's arm to calm him down but he pulled away.

"She didn't deserve this!" Vlad put his head in his hands.

"I'm going to kill him," Vlad said under his breath but everyone still heard what he said.

"Vlad you can't," Draco tried to argue. "You have to wait until you get your emotions under control."

"NO!" Vlad shouted. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Vlad's eyes were glowing, but they weren't red. They were glowing blue. Vlad was tapping into his Chosen One powers.

Ingrid backed off. She was actually scared of Vlad.

"I'm not going to let that son of a bitch run free from this!" Vlad let his fangs down.

Before anyone could stop him Vlad sped away. He had left so fast that it knocked everyone back a foot. Thunder continued to sound.

"We have to go after him," the Count said.

"We can't," Draco said. "If anyone of us gets in his way he might kill us too. He's beyond reason now."

"Well I don't see a problem with him killing VanHelsing," Ingrid laughed. "Let him go."

"You don't understand," Draco said. "Once he gets a taste of that slayers blood he won't stop. He's out for revenge and once he realizes that killing VanHelsing isn't enough then he will continue to kill. He's also using his chosen one power. If that power is abused it could destroy him in a second. He hasn't learned to control it yet."

"So what do we do?" Piers asked.

"We have to reason with him before he get to the slayer," Draco said.

"But you just said that Vlad could kill us if we got in the way," Piers complained.

"We don't have time to figure this out," Draco said. "We have to find him."

Ingrid noticed she was still wearing the watch to track Vlad which means she could easily find him.

"I'll go," she said. "I can find him and it's probably best only one of us goes. We don't want him to think we are there to trap him."

"No way!" Piers argued, "He attacked you once before."

"I'll be fine," Ingrid said. She didn't wait for Piers to protest. She sped off before anyone could argue.

* * *

The van was going 100mph down the road.

"Why are you driving so fast?" Carla complained to the slayer driving.

"Jonno just pissed off the most powerful vampire that ever lived. I am not taking any chances."

"I don't think…" Carla didn't get an opportunity to finish her sentence. The van lit up in an explosion and rolled off the street. The van had been obliterated. Slayers were thrown all over the street.

Some how Jonathan had survived the crash, but not without some broken bones and some glass from the windows sticking out of him. Jonathan rolled to his side and found Carla about ten feet away from him. He tried to call to her. She was too quiet for him to understand. He could hear the world "help".

Next thing he knew blue lightning shot just over his head and grabbed Carla around her neck. She was slowly lifted into the air. Jonathan looked up and noticed three other slayers hanging over him being strangled by the lightning. He could hear them screaming but was unable to move. He still had his gun strapped to his side. He managed to grab it but wasn't sure where to shoot.

"Let them go!" He shouted.

He heard a laugh but was unsure where it came from.

"Fine," the voice said.

All four slayers fell around him. Carla landed right next to him. Her eyes were wide open and her face was frozen in fear. He reached out and tried to feel for a pulse. Nothing.

Jonathan heard footsteps coming toward him.

"Why did you kill her?" Jonathan recognized Vlad's voice.

"Why would you hurt another human being?" Vlad continued.

Jonathan looked up and saw two glowing blue eyes staring down on him.

"Vlad please don't do this," Jonathan begged.

Vlad laughed, "You're pathetic."

Jonathan tried to point his gun but Vlad stopped him and wrapped the blue lightning around Jonathan's neck and began to lift him.

"You think you can try and kill me with the same gun?" Vlad taunted.

Jonathan couldn't breath. His neck was on fire and his whole body tingled from the electricity. Somehow he still managed to hang on to the gun. He slowly lifted it and shot blind toward Vlad's voice. Jonathan fell to the ground and felt another bone in his arm break. He yelled out in pain. He could barley see now, but he noticed a figure walking toward him. He was afraid he had missed. Then he heard a different voice.

"Vlad stop!" The voice commanded.

"Stay out of this Ingrid!" Vlad yelled.

Jonathan never thought he would be happy to see Ingrid, but thought maybe this would be his only chance of survival.

"You think this will make you feel better?" Ingrid asked.

"It can't possibly make me feel any worse," Vlad said.

"Please just come home," Ingrid begged.

"Why are you trying to stop me?" Vlad asked.

Ingrid didn't know what else to say.

Vlad grew even more angry, "You want to save him?! Are you with him?"

"You're not thinking straight," Ingrid said.

"Then what is it?!" Vlad hissed showing his fangs.

Ingrid jumped back.

Vlad smiled, "You're afraid of me."

"I'm not afraid of you Vlad," Ingrid argued. "I'm afraid of what might happen if you take this too far."

"I'm not going to let him live."

"You have to. You can get your revenge on him later, but right now you're in danger."

"Of what?" Vlad laughed.

"Yourself. That power you have is killing you. You know it is. You can't handle it."

Vlad shook his head, "I can take care of myself. Now stay out of my way. He needs to suffer for what he did!"

"Will you listen to yourself?" Ingrid laughed. "You don't sound like my brother at all. You sound like…"

"Like what?"

"Like a monster."

Vlad frowned, "You wanted me this way. You and everyone else."

"I didn't want you to be an out of control freak," Ingrid realized she wasn't breaking threw to him. Vlad was forgetting about Ingrid and was refocusing on Jonathan. That's when Ingrid remembered something.

"What about George?" She yelled.

That got his attention, "What?"

"You're sister. She's lost her mother and doesn't even know it yet."

"George?" Vlad frowned.

Ingrid realized Vlad really was losing his mind. He looked as if he didn't even remember he had another sister.

"She needs her brother," Ingrid continued. "She can't afford to lose you too."

I look of realization slowly appeared on Vlad's face, "George!"

Vlad suddenly regained sense and his eyes returned to their normal color.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"She's at a hotel remember?" Ingrid said. "We should go get her. I know which one Piers took her too."

Vlad nodded and followed her away from the slayer. Ingrid realized she probably just left Jonathan for dead, but figured she at least accomplished her goal in getting Vlad back to his senses. Besides, it would be better for everyone if the slayer did die.

* * *

Vlad and Ingrid arrived at the hotel just before dawn. They washed up in the lobby bathrooms to make sure there wasn't any traces of blood left of them. Ingrid had gotten an extra key card to the room from the front desk using hypnosis.

They stood outside the door. Vlad stopped Ingrid just before she swiped the key, "What do I even say to her?"

"I'm not really good at breather stuff so I really don't know," Ingrid said.

Vlad let Ingrid unlock the door and they walked in. George was still asleep. Vlad shook her to wake her up. George's eyes slowly opened and she yawned.

"Vlad?" George looked around the room. "Where's mom?"

Vlad had no idea what to say and the longer he stayed silent the more George worried.

"Vlad where is she?" George asked.

"George," Vlad started. "Something happened. There was an accident and mom was hurt."

George looked panicked, "What happened?!"

Vlad couldn't look George in the eye, "There wasn't anything we could do. She's gone."

George jumped up from the bed and tried to run away. Vlad gabbed her around the waist and sat her on the bed not letting her go.

"MOM!" She cried. Hearing her scream like that was unbearable, but Vlad refused to let her go. He tried to hold her to comfort her until she stopped screaming. Eventually she did and hugged Vlad back. She continued to cry until her eyes dried out.


	32. Chapter 32

It had been a week since Sally had died. The Dracula's had made the decision that it was time to move on and they were deciding where they should go. Of course they couldn't have this discussion without arguing.

"New York," Ingrid said.

"Australia," the Count said.

"I'm not moving to sunny Australia with you," Ingrid folded her arms.

"It's not so bad," The Count said. "There are no slayers around."

"That's because no vampires are dumb enough to live there," Ingrid said. "Except you of course."

Vlad laid on the couch ignoring them. George sat on the floor by him looking through her mom's old sketches.

Draco had gone to sleep early and Piers was locked away in his lab. He finally had time to work on his computer game.

George stood up and handed Vlad the sketchbook, "I'm going to bed."

"Alright," Vlad said. "Sleep well."

"I'll try," George closed the door behind her.

George was still depressed and Vlad didn't blame her. He figured it would take a lot of time before he saw his sister smile again.

"New York."

"Australia."

"New York."

"Australia."

Vlad rolled his eyes and stood up. He walked toward the table looking through the sketches.

"What's so special about New York?" the Count asked.

"Breathers everywhere!" Ingrid said. "And more happens there during the night then everywhere else. I'm tired of being bored."

"The constant noise will give me a headache," the Count complained.

Vlad slammed the sketchbook down, "You're both giving me a headache."

Ingrid put her hands on her hips, "Do you not care about where we live? You've seen the world. What's better New York or Australia?"

Vlad rolled his eyes, "I think you're both morons. New York has cameras and eyes everywhere. You'll be caught in a night if you tried to hunt there. And Australia is way to hot for us. I'm honestly surprised you lasted as long as you did dad."

The both of them decided to ignore Vlad and kept on with their debate on the two locations.

Vlad sighed and looked down at the sketchbook. He turned the page and found a familiar drawing. It was the sketch of the fountain his mother designed. Vlad couldn't help but smile at one of the few memories he had with his mom. Then he had an idea.

"What about home?" Vlad interrupted.

Both Ingrid and the Count stopped arguing.

"What?" the Count frowned.

"Let's go home," Vlad repeated. "To Transylvania."

"Last time we were there the town tried to kill us," Ingrid reminded him.

"That was a while ago," Vlad said. "Besides we can easily stay under the radar there. If anyone does see us and recognize us then we hypnotize them. We're grown now and dad isn't the only vampire anymore."

Ingrid thought about it for a moment, "It's also our home land. We all know it better than anyone."

The Count smiled, "Well I suppose I've been a little homesick lately."

"So do we all agree on going home?" Vlad asked. "Where we belong?"

The Count and Ingrid exchanged looks. "Agreed," They said in unison.

Renfield sped into the room with a bottle of blood and some glasses.

"For once perfect timing," the Count said. "Pour the bottle Renfield and pour a glass for yourself. We're celebrating."

Renfield looked surprised and he wasn't sure if the Count was serious if he was allowed to have a glass. Still he poured four glasses and passed them out.

The Count raised his glass, "Almost seven years ago the four of us packed our bags and moved here to the United Kingdom. It's been fun, but it is now time for us to return home. To another seven years and hundreds more after."

Everyone tapped their glasses together and drank. For the first time Vlad actually felt he belonged with his family.

* * *

 **After the crazy emotional last couple chapters I figured I would end it on a good note. I know there are a lot of unanswered question, but don't worry. A sequel will be made. Now that this fanfic is complete feel free to give your final thoughts. Thank you for everyone's support. A special shout out to HeathanVampires. Without you I would never have finished this. Also to Becky4Ever1996. She has been a great supporter and has helped me make this story possible. And finally to all those who reviewed and read my story. The YD fandom may be shrinking, but for those who are still around you are all amazing. I hope I have done you all proud. Keep an eye out for the sequel to this story. *Drum Role* "Trials: Return to Transylvania" (Lame title. Could change. We'll see.) Story will be up sometime this week. Who knows it could appear in a few hours for all I know XD Thanks everyone.  
**


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